ASTRONOMICAL  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


KELIGIOUS    TRUTH/ 


ILLUSTRATED    FROM    SCIENCE, 


ADDRESSES    AND     SERMONS 


OCCASIONS. 

1 


BY 


EDWARD   HITCHCOCK.  D.D.,LL.D., 

\\ 

LATE  PRESIDENT  OF  AMHERST  COLLEGE,  AND  NOW  PROFESSOR  OF  NATURAL 
THEOLOGY  AND  GEOLOGY. 


BOSTON: 
PHILLIPS,    SAMPSON   AND   COMPANY. 

1857. 


s> 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1856,  by 

PHILLIPS,  SAMPSON  AND  COMPANY, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


STEREOTYPED  AT  THE 
BOSTON    STEREOTYPE    FOUNDRY. 


PREFACE. 


THE  quarryman,  who  has  made  excavations  in  the 
rocks  for  architectural  materials,  sometimes  looks  over 
the  fragments  which  have  been  thrown  aside,  and  finds 
blocks  that  seem  to  him  worth  preserving.  Thus  have 
I  been  doing  with  the  literary  debris,  which  has  been 
quarried  and  wrought  on  special  occasions,  and  after 
wards  thrown  aside.  With  some  new  dressing,  I  have 
ventured  to  hope  that  a  part  of  them  are  worth  pre 
serving,  and  this  volume  is  the  result.  A  brief  history 
of  the  several  articles  is  subjoined. 

The  first  article,  entitled  The  highest  Use  of  Learn 
ing,  was  my  Inaugural  Address  when  assuming  the 
presidency  of  Amherst  College,  April,  1845. 

The  second,  on  The  Relations  and  Mutual  Duties 
between  the  Philosopher  and  the  Theologian,  was  de 
livered  as  an  Anniversary  Address  before  the  Porter 
Rhetorical  Society,  at  the  Andover  Theological  Semi- 


PREFACE. 


nary,  in  1852.  It  was  subsequently  published  in  the 
Bibliotheca  Sacra,  from  which  it  has  been  copied,  by 
permission. 

The  third,  on  Special  Divine  Interpositions  in  Nature, 
was  given  before  the  Theological  Seminaries  of  Bangor 
and  Newton,  in  1853.  This,  also,  was  published  in  the 
Bibliotheca  Sacra  for  1854. 

The  Wonders  of  Science  compared  with  the  Wonders 
of  Romance,  is  a  Lecture  which  has  been  delivered 
before  literary  associations  in  the  cities  of  New  York, 
Brooklyn,  New  London,  Norwich,  Lowell,  Charlestown, 
Salem,  Newburyport,  and  Springfield ;  also  at  Amherst 
College,  and  in  some  other  places.  It  has  never  before 
been  published. 

The  Religious  Bearings  of  Man's  Creation  was 
preached  as  a  Sermon  before  the  Convention  of  Con 
gregational  Ministers,  in  Brattle  Street  Church,  Boston, 
May,  1854.  It  was  also  delivered  as  an  Address  before 
the  Theological  Society  of  Dartmouth  College,  in 
August,  1854.  It  has  likewise  been  preached  in  Am 
herst  College,  in  Springfield  and  Conway,  Massachu 
setts,  Brooklyn  and  Buffalo,  New  York,  and  Milwaukie, 
"Wisconsin.  In  August,  1856,  it  was  preached  in  Rev. 
Dr.  Sprague's  Church,  in  Albany,  on  Lord's  Day 
morning,  at  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  By  the 


PREFACE. 


local  committee  of  that  association  it  has  been  pub 
lished  in  connection  with  a  Sermon  by  President  Hop 
kins,  of  Williams  College,  delivered  in  the  afternoon 
of  the  same  day. 

The  Sermon  entitled  The  Catalytic  Power  of  the 
Gospel  was  preached  before  the  Massachusetts  Home 
Missionary  Society,  at  its  anniversary  in  Boston,  in 
May,  1852.  It  was  published  by  the  Society  in  pam 
phlet  form. 

The  Attractions  of  Heaven  and  Earth  has  been 
preached  as  a  Sermon  in  Amherst  College,  in  Amherst, 
West,  East,  and  North  Parishes  ;  in  Hatfield,  Whately, 
Enlield,  South  Deerfield,  Conway,  and  Kichmond, 
Massachusetts.  Its  chief  peculiarity  is  the  employment 
of  diagrams.  It  has  never  before  been  published. 

The  Sermon  entitled  Mineralogical  Illustrations  of 
Character ,  has  been  preached  only  in  Amherst  College, 
at  an  evening  lecture.  Its  chief  peculiarity  is  the 
employment  of  a  few  mineral  specimens  for  illustra 
tion.  This  is  the  first  time  it  appears  in  print. 

The  Inseparable  Trio  was  an  Election  Sermon, 
preached  January  2,  1850,  in  Old  South  Church, 
Boston,  before  His  Excellency  George  N.  Briggs,  His 
Honor  John  Reed,  the  Honorable  Council,  and  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  Massachusetts. 
J)y  whom  it  was  published  in  the  pamphlet  form.  It  is 


6  PREFACE. 

added  to  this  volume  from  a  growing  conviction  of  the 
importance  of  the  leading  principle  advanced  in  it. 

A  Chapter  in  the  Book  of  Providence  was  delivered 
as  an  Anniversary  Address  before  the  Mount  Holyoke 
Female  Seminary,  at  South  Hadley,  in  1849,  and  pub 
lished  in  a  pamphlet  form.  I  give  it  a  place  in  this 
volume  chiefly  to  exhibit  the  outlines  of  the  character 
of  one  of  the  most  energetic  and  benevolent  females 
of  modern  times. 

The  Waste  of  Mind  is  also  an  Address  at  the  anni 
versary  of  the  same  institution,  in  1842.  It  was  pub 
lished  by  the  trustees  in  a  pamphlet  form. 

Excepting  the  two  or  three  last  of  the  preceding 
articles,  it  will  be  seen  that  scientific  facts  and  prin 
ciples  are  employed  to  prove  or  illustrate  religious 
truths.  This  fact  embraces  so  large  a  part  of  the 
volume,  that  I  have  felt  justified  in  placing  it  upon 
the  title  page. 

I  might  have  added  many  more  articles  of  analogous 
character,  but  fear  that  I  have  already  presumed 
too  much  upon  the  interest  of  .the  public  in  such 
productions. 

AMHERST  COLLEGE,  November  20,  1856. 


CONTENTS. 


Tage 

THE   HIGHEST   USE   OF  LEARNING, 9 

THE   RELATIONS  AND   MUTUAL  DUTIES   BETWEEN  THE 
PHILOSOPHER  AND    THE   THEOLOGIAN,.        ...     5^ 

SPECIAL  DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS   IN  NATURE,        .        .    98 

THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE     COMPARED    WITH    THE 
WONDERS   OF   ROMANCE, 132 

THE  RELIGIOUS  BEARINGS  OF  MAN'S  CREATION,  .  .  192 
THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL,  .  .  .  .223 
THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH,  .  .  .  255 
MINERALOGICAL  ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  CHARACTER,  .  .  285 

THE  INSEPARABLE  TRIO, 303 

A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE,  .  .  .335 
THE  WASTE  OF  MIND, 376 


THE  HIGHEST  USE  OF  LEARNING, 


THE  cause  of  education,  in  this  country  at  least,  is  almost 
universally  popular.  Yet  were  we  to  pass  around  the  inquiry 
among  the  different  classes  of  society,  why  they  regard  it  so 
important,  we  should  probably  receive  very  different  answers. 
One  man,  himself  uneducated,  places  its  chief  value  in  the 
means  it  affords  of  defence  against  the  impositions  of  the  de 
signing  and  unprincipled.  Another  values  it  chiefly  because 
it  enables  him  to  take  advantage  of  the  ignorance  of  the  world 
in  promoting  his  schemes  of  self-aggrandizement.  A  third 
looks  upon  the  means  which  education  affords  for  acquiring 
property,  as  its  highest  use.  A  fourth  regards  the  personal 
reputation,  respect,  and  influence,  which  learning  bestows,  as 
its  chief  advantage.  A  fifth  thinks  of  it  mainly  as  an  instru 
ment  of  advancing  civilization,  and  multiplying  the  comforts 
and  luxuries  of  life.  A  sixth  estimates  most  highly  its  influ 
ence  in  elevating  the  lower  classes  of  the  community  above 
the  condition  of  mere  animals  and  drudges,  and  in  making 
them  understand  that  the  body  is  not  the  only  part  of  man  to 
be  cared  for.  A  seventh  places  the  highest  use  of  learning 
in  its  power  of  disciplining  and  liberalizing  the  mind,  and 
delivering  it  from  vulgar  fears,  superstitions,  and  prejudices  ; 
and  in  giving  to  men  just  views  of  their  rights,  relations,  and 
destinies.  An  eighth  thinks  most  of  the  boundless  fields  of 

(9) 


10  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

enjoyment  which  knowledge  opens  to  the  human  mind,  of  a 
far  more  noble  and  refined  kind  than  any  dependent  upon 
animal  nature.  A  ninth  makes  its  most  important  use  to  con 
sist  in  its  bearings  upon  religion,  both  natural  and  revealed. 

Now,  in  my  opinion,  this  ninth  man  has  the  right  of  the 
matter  most  decidedly  ;  and  yet  I  fear  that  his  opinion  is  not 
the  most  common',  or  the  most  popular.  But  to  my  convic 
tion,  the  religious  applications  of  learning  are  by  far  its  most 
important  use  ;  and  the  occasion  seems  to  be  a  fit  one  to  de 
fend  and  illustrate  this  opinion.  It  needs,  I  believe,  both 
defence  and  illustration.  For  though  the  belief  is  general 
that  religion  may  derive  some  benefit  from  particular  branches 
of  learning,  there  is  still  an  impression  lingering  on  many 
minds,  that  some  sciences  are  unfriendly  in  their  bearings 
upon  religion,  and  that  others  have  no  relations  to  religion. 
Much  less  is  it  generally  believed  that  the  strongest  reason 
why  we  should  sustain  common  schools,  academies,  and  col 
leges,  is,  that  we  are  thus  promoting  the  cause  of  true  reli 
gion.  But  if  this  be  indeed  true,  then,  when  we  give  our 
property,  our  influence,  or  ourselves,  to  the  cause  of  learning, 
we  shall  do  it  with  a  heartier  good  will  and  a  more  entire  con 
secration  ;  and  we  shall  the  more  cheerfully  bear  up  under 
the  trials,  fatigues,  disappointments,  and  perplexities  that  lie 
in  our  path. 

I  would  not,  indeed,  undervalue  the  secular  advantages  of 
learning.  They  are  so  obvious  and  so  important,  that  I  could 
not  do  it  if  I  would.  Those  whose  experience  reaches  back 
fifty,  or  forty,  or  even  thirty  years,  have  evidence  in  their 
own  consciousness  of  the  economical  value  of  learning  too 
strong  to  be  overcome  by  any  speculative  argument  depreci 
ating  its  importance.  When  we  compare  the  present  condition 
of  the  world,  and  our  own  condition,  with  what  they  were  in 


//  •*  »•    *^  T 

THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  11 

our  early  days,  we  cannot  but  be  deeply  impressed  with 
the  rapid  progress  of  society,  and  the  multiplication  of  secu 
lar  advantages,  and  the  means  of  comfort  and  happiness, 
growing  out  of  the  advancement  of  learning.  Branches  of 
science  and  literature,  which,  at  the  beginning  of  this  centu 
ry,  were  tabooed  to  all  who  were  not  residents  within  the 
walls  of  universities  and  colleges,  and  even  some  branches 
that  scarcely  had  an  existence  then,  are  now  the  theme  of 
familiar  conversation  in  the  workshop,  on  the  farm,  in  the 
stage  coach,  the  rail  car,  the  steamboat,  and  the  packet.  And 
so  simplified  are  the  elementary  principles  of  many  of  these 
branches,  as  to  be  brought  within  the  comprehension  of  the 
child  at  the  primary  school.  Instead  of  the  stinted  sources 
of  information  then  possessed  in  a  few  small  newspapers  and 
periodicals  in  some  of  the  larger  cities,  and  a  few  republica- 
tions  of  small  European  works,  the  country  is  now  flooded 
with  newspapers  of  all  sizes  below  one  that  will  swallow  up 
an  octavo,  and  with  periodicals  and  books  to  suit  all  tastes,  all 
purses,  and  all  fancies,  from  the  penny  pamphlet  up  to  the 
seven  hundred  dollar  volumes  of  Audubon. 

Still  more  striking  has  been  the  progress  of  the  useful  arts 
from  the  application  of  scientific  principles.  In  Great  Brit 
ain,  at  this  moment,  steam  performs  a  work  that  would  re 
quire  the  unaided  labor  of  more  than  four  hundred  millions  of 
men ;  and  a  work  as  great  probably,  in  proportion  to  the  pop 
ulation,  in  our  own  country.  Improvements  in  machinery 
and  in  chemical  processes  have  doubtless  within  this  century 
made  a  still  greater  deduction  from  the  amount  of  labor  ne 
cessary  ;  and  these  improvements  reach  every  class  of  the 
community ;  pointing  out  to  them  an  easier  path  to  compe 
tence,  and  affording  them  leisure  to  cultivate  their  intellectual 
and  moral  powers.  Then,  too,  how  striking  the  change  in 


12  THE    HIGHEST    ttSE    OF    LEARNING. 

respect  to  intercommunication,  both  on  land  and  water  !  We 
now  hardly  give  a  serious  parting  to  our  friend  who  starts 
upon  a  trip  of  only  some  five  hundred  or  a  thousand  miles, 
so  soon  shall  we  see  him  again.  And  even  when  we  have 
bid  him  adieu,  as  he  starts  on  foreign  travel,  we  hardly  begin 
to  reckon  his  absence  by  months,  certainly  not  as  formerly 
by  years,  ere  he  greets  us  again ;  having  made  the  tour  of 
Europe,  or  perhaps  stood  within  the  Holy  City,  or  coasted  the 
shores  of  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Caspian,  or  gone  down  the 
Red  Sea  to  India  and  the  Celestial  Empire,  and  returning  by 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  he  has  completed  the  circuit  of  the 
globe.  And  besides  the  problem  has  just  been  solved,  of  car 
rying  on  a  conversation  and  transacting  business  with  our 
friend  when  absent,  even  though  hundreds,  and  it  may  be 
thousands,  of  miles  intervene  between  us. 

Now,  these  are  advantages  derived  from  the  progress  of 
learning  so  obvious  as  to  be  known  and  read  of  all  men-;  and, 
therefore,  we  are  apt  to  suppose  them  the  chief  advantages. 
Whereas  the  applications  of  literary  and  scientific  truths  to 
religion  lie  more  out  of  sight,  and  can  be  appreciated  fully 
only  by  him  who  is  well  acquainted  both  with  learning  and 
religion,  and  who  looks  at  their  relations  with  the  eye  of  a 
philosopher.  We  must  dwell  a  little,  therefore,  upon  these 
relations  in  order  to  sustain  the  position  that  has  been  taken. 

I  need  not  argue  before  such  an  audience  as  this  the  supe 
rior  importance  of  religious  principles  to  all  others.  This  will 
be  admitted ;  for  all  other  truths  have  reference  to  time,  these 
to  eternity  :  all  others  regard  man's  mortal,  these  his  immor 
tal  interests  :  all  others  are  limited  by  created  natures ;  these 
centre  in  the  uncreated  God.  Religious  principles,  therefore, 
are  in  their  very  nature  of  infinite  moment.  Other  truths 
have  gradations  of  value ;  but  these  are  invaluable,  because 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  13 

necessarily  immortal  and  infinite.  Every  thing,  therefore,  in 
literature  or  science,  that  discovers,  illustrates,  or  confirms 
the  eternal  principles  of  religion,  swells  into  an  importance 
proportionably  great.  It  remains,  then,  only  to  show  that  the 
wide  fields  of  learning  afford  us  such  illustrations  over  their 
entire  surface,  and  the  position  will  be  made  out,  that  the  re 
ligious  applications  of  literature  and  science  are  the  most 
important  of  all  their  relations  ;  and  that,  consequently,  when 
we  consecrate  our  property,  our  influence,  or  our  lives,  to  the 
cause  of  education,  we  consecrate  them  to  one  of  the  noblest 
of  all  human  enterprises. 

Accompany  me  now,  my  friends,  as  we  rapidly  pass  around 
the  circle  of  literature  and  science,  in  order  that  we  may  see 
what  are  the  relations  between  religion  and  the  different 
branches  of  human  learning. 

We  meet,  first,  with  the  ancient  classics,  whose  study  forms 
so  important  a  part  of  a  liberal  education  in  modern  times. 
The  religious  principles  which  they  contain  are.  indeed,  fa 
tally  false  ;  and  not  much  more  consonant  with  modern  views 
is  their  philosophy.  Nevertheless,  they  afford  most  important 
aid  in  elucidating  revelation.  The  very  absurdity  of  the  my 
thology  and  philosophy  of  the  classics  brings  out,  by  contrast, 
in  bolder  relief  the  beauties  and  glories  of  Christian  doctrines 
and  Christian  philosophy  ;  and  instead  of  leading  the  student 
to  embrace  polytheism,  they  prepare  his  mind  for  the  recep 
tion  of  the  gospel.  Besides,  many  passages  of  Scripture 
would  be  unintelligible,  and  others  unimpressive,  without  that 
knowledge  of  ancient  opinions  and  manners  which  the  clas 
sics  disclose.  And  then,  too,  how  unfit  to  give  a  correct 
interpretation  of  Scripture  is  he  who  is  unacquainted  with 
the  languages  in  which  it  was  originally  written  !  It  does  not 
prove  this  position  false  to  state,  what  is  certainly  true,  that 
2 


14  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

many  men  have  faithfully  preached  the  gospel,  and  been  in 
strumental  of  the  conversion  of  great  numbers,  who  were 
ignorant  of  classical  literature.  So  there  have  been  surgeons 
and  physicians  unacquainted  with  anatomy,  physiology,  and 
chemistry ;  and  they  may  have  performed  many  skilful  op 
erations  and  effected  many  cures,  and  thus  done  much  good. 
But  other  things  being  equal,  no  one  would  feel  as  safe  in  the 
hands  of  such  practitioners  as  in  those  familiar  with  the  struc 
ture  of  the  human  system,  and  with  the  laws  that  govern  it, 
and  with  the  chemical  nature  and  action  of  medicines.  In 
difficult  cases  such  practitioners  would  shrink  from  prescrip 
tions  and  operations;  or  if  they  rashly  attempted  them,  would 
be  very  likely  to  tie  the  omo-hyoid  muscle  instead  of  the  ca 
rotid  artery;  or  to  administer  nitric  acid"  in  connection  with 
mercury  ;  or  by  some  analogous  blunder,  to  put  the  patient's 
life  in  jeopardy.  And  mistakes  alike  dangerous,  sometimes 
infinitely  more  so,  because  they  involve  the  loss  of  the  soul, 
must  he  be  liable  to  make,  who  engages  in  the  ministerial 
office  ignorant  of  the  original  languages  in  which  the  Scrip 
tures  were  written.  And  if  one  such  fatal  mistake  should 
result  from  his  ignorance,  what  a  terrible  drawback  would  it 
be  upon  a  whole  life  of  devoted  usefulness! 

In  modern  times  human  learning  has  become  so  prodigious 
ly  expanded,  and  so  many  new  branches  have  been  estab 
lished,  that  it  is  difficult  to  discourse  intelligibly  concerning  it 
without  defining  the  terms  which  we  employ.  In  France  and 
Germany,  the  word  literature  embraces  the  whole  circle  of 
written  knowledge  ;  and  with  many  English  writers  it  has  the 
same  wide  signification.  But  often  the  meaning  is  restricted 
to  those  branches  which  treat  of  the  social,  moral,  and  intel 
lectual  relations  of  man.  Polite  literature,  or  belles-lettres, 
is  still  more  limited  in  ils  meaning ;  embracing  poetry,  ora- 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  15 

tory,  and  perhaps  history,  biography,  and  some  other  miscel 
laneous  subjects.  The  term  science  is  applied  to  those 
brandies  whose  principles  are  considered  as  well  settled  ; 
and  with  the  exception  of  some  parts  of  mathematics,  the 
term  is  chiefly  confined  to  the  material  world  ;  although  mor 
al  science,  and  intellectual  science,  are  phrases  frequently 
used. 

Adopting  these  definitions,  we  might  arrange  all  human 
knowledge  under  the  three  heads  of  Literature,  Science,  and 
Art.  Let  us  first  inquire  into  the  influence  of  modern  litera 
ture  upon  religion. 

And  here  it  must  be  acknowledged  in  the  outset,  that  not  a 
little  of  the  influence  of  modern  polite  literature  has  been 
very  disastrous  to  religion.  For  much  of  it  has  been  pre 
pared  by  men  who  were  intemperate,  or  licentious,  and  se 
cretly  or  openly  hostile  to  Christianity ;  at  least  to  its  peculiar 
doctrines.  And  their  writings  have  been  deeply  imbued  with 
immorality,  or  infidelity,  or  atheism.  Yet  the  poison  has  been 
often  so  interwoven  with  those  fascinations  of  style,  or  thought, 
characteristic  of  genius,  as  to  be  unnoticed  by  the  youthful 
mind,  delighted  with  smartness  and  brilliancy.  And  even 
when  the  plague  spots  have  been  pointed  out,  it  has  tended, 
like  the  prohibition  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  in 
Eden,  to  excite  an  irresistible  desire  to  open  the  proscribed 
volumes,  even  though  they  should  prove  a  second  box  of  Pan 
dora. 

Perhaps  no  branch  of  literature  has  been  oftener  and  more 
successfully  employed  as  a  vehicle  for  the  propagation  of  in 
fidel  opinions  than  history.  Rightly  understood,  and  faithfully 
interpreted,  it  gives  strong  light  and  confirmation  to  revelation 
and  to  morality.  But  sceptical  ingenuity  has  often  been  able 
to  make  its  voice  as  ambiguous  as  a  Delphic  oracle,  and  as 


16  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

fallacious  as  ventriloquism.  In  pagan  Greece  and  Rome, 
their  historians,  except  perhaps  Tacitus,  were  even  over  cred 
ulous  on  the  subject  of  polytheistic  religion.  And  so  in  mod 
ern  times,  previous  to  the  last  century,  the  historian  was 
usually  the  supporter  of  revealed  truth.  But  the  talented  yet 
anomalous  Bayle,  in  that  manual  of  irreligion,  his  Critical 
Dictionary,  led  the  way  in  converting  facts  into  an  engine 
against  Christianity.  Voltaire  and  others  learned  the  lesion, 
which  was  perfected  by  Gibbon  and  Hume.  So  often,  how 
ever,  have  their  sophistries  and  cavils  been  exposed,  that  it  is 
only  the  unwary  who  are  no^v  entrapped.  The  great  mass 
of  historical  literature  also,  your  Rollin  and  Ramsay,  Miiller, 
Schlegel,  Heeren,  Goldsmith,  Smollet,  Russell,  Turner,  Rob 
ertson,  and  a  multitude  of  others,  are  favorable  to  religion  ; 
although  a  Von  Rotteck,  in  the  costume  of  a  baptized  infidel, 
rejects  biblical  history  as  fabulous.  Religion,  therefore,  need 
have  no  fears  from  her  alliance  with  History  ;  and,  indeed, 
she  may  hope  for  many  a  rich  harvest  of  illustration  and  con 
firmation  from  future  researches  ;  for  there  are  other  papyri 
to  be  unrolled,  other  hieroglyphics  to  be  deciphered, and  other 
Sir  William  Joneses  and  Champollions  to  be  raised  up. 

Another  most  sacrilegious  perversion  of  polite  literature 
consists  in  clothing  immorality  and  irreligion  in  the  vestal  robe 
of  poetry.  I  say  sacrilegious  ;  for  poetry  is  the  natural  hand 
maid  of  pure  religion.  Hence  it  was  chosen  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  the  appropriate  language  of  prophets  and  other  in 
spired  men.  But  it  is  the  appropriate  language  of  all  strong 
emotions,  and  may,  therefore,  be  employed  for  giving  an 
attractive  dress  to  immoral  and  irreligious  sentiments,  as  well 
as  to  those  which  are  virtuous  and  holy.  Accordingly,  so 
wide  has  been  this  misapplication  of  the  poetic  talent,  that  in 
almost  every  age  its  highest  efforts  have  been  consecrated  to 


THE  HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  17 

polytheism,  or  war,  or  amorous  intrigues,  or  intemperance,  or 
to  secure  favor  from  the  great,  by  flattering  their  vanity.  In 
deed,  though  the  Old  Testament  is  full  of  poetry,  and  though  it 
has  ever  been  employed  in  the  religious  worship  of  Jews  and 
Christians,  yet  it  seems  not  to  have  been  imagined  till  lately, 
that  this  delightful  art  had  been  perverted  and  degraded  by 
being  employed  to  sustain  heathenism,  and  to  pander  to  intem 
perance,  licentiousness,  and  war  ;  nor  that  it  could  ever  be 
made  thoroughly  Christian,  and  thus  exalted  in  character  and 
effect.  The  great  poets  of  antiquity  were  so  fully  heathen, 
and  some  of  them,  as  Anacreon  and  Horace,  had  woven  so 
many  garlands  for  the  intoxicating  cup,  that  it  seems  to  have 
been  taken  for  granted  that  the  muse  could  never  be  made  to 
pour  forth  numbers  as  sweet  and  enticing  on  loftier  and  purer 
themes.  Even  the  splendid  efforts  of  Milton  and  Dante  did 
not  open  the  eyes  of  Christians  to  the  true  use  of  poetry.  In 
deed,  the  polytheistic  and  warlike  numbers  of  Homer  and 
Virgil,  and  the  bacchanalian  songs  of  the  ancient  lesser  poets, 
were  piety  and  purity,  compared  to  the  philosophic  blasphemy 
of  Shelley,  the  atheism  and  profligacy  of  Byron  and  Moore, 
and  —  must  I  add  ?  —  the  bacchanalian  songs  of  Robert  Burns. 
Furthermore,  if  it  be  true,  as  Milton  affirmed,  that  a  poet's 
life  is  itself  a  true  poem,  we  shall  be  obliged  sadly  to  swell 
the  list  of  modern  poems  devoted  to  vice  and  irreligion.  For 
when  biography  informs  us  that  Addison,  Prior,  and  Steele 
were  intemperate,  that  Thomson  was  a  voluptuary,  Goldsmith 
dissipated,  Sterne  a  decided  sensualist,  and  that  even  Johnson 
could  practise  abstinence  but  not  temperance,  and  when  we 
know,  that  though  Pope's  constitution  was  too  delicate  to  al 
low  him  to  indulge  in  luxurious  excesses,  yet  his  writings 
show  a  bad  preeminence  of  wantonness  and  indecency,  we 
are  led  to  exclaim  with  Milton, — 
2* 


18  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

"  God  of  our  fathers,  what  is  man  ! 
Nor  do  I  name  of  men  the  common  route, 
That,  wandering  loose  abroad, 
Grow  up  and  perish  as  the  summerfly,  — 
Heads  without  name,  no  more  remembered,  — 
But  such  as  thou  hast  solemnly  elected, 
"With  gifts  and  graces  eminently  adorned, 
For  some  great  work  —  thy  glory." 

And  then,  too,  consider  the  moral  character  of  modern  dra 
matic  poetry,  so  decidedly  worse  than  the  noble  tragic  poetry 
of  antiquity.  From  the  days  of  Dryden  to  the  present,  —  for 
even  Shakspeare,  with  all  his  splendid  moral  sentiments,  was 
undoubtedly  a  libertine  in  principle  and  practice,  —  scarcely  a 
dramatic  poet  has  appeared  whose  "  entire  unweeded  vol 
umes,"  as  Hannah  More  calls  them,  can  be  conscientiously 
recommended,  save  the  Comus  and  Samson  Agonistes  of  Mil 
ton,  and  a  few  other  plays  of  kindred  character.  We  have 
seen,  too,  that  lyric  poetry  —  more  influential  than  any  other 
upon  public  morals  —  has  been  prostituted  to  the  cause  of  in 
temperance  and  revelry,  from  the  time  when  Anacreon  indit 
ed  his'H  yy  /xsXajva  7r/vs»,and  Horace  his  Nunc  est  bibendum, 
down  to  the  period  when  Burns  exclaimed, 

"  We'll  tak'  a  cup  o'  kindness  yet, 
For  auld  lang  syne  ;  " 

or,  still  later,  when  the  echo  came  from  Moore,  — 
"Friend  of  my  life,  this  wine  cup  sip." 

But  thanks  be  to  God,  that  in  these  latter  days  he  has  cre 
ated  some  greater  and  some  lesser  Christian  lights,  and  placed 
them  in  the  poetic  firmament,  where  they  already  begin  to 
rule  the  day  and  the  night.  First  came  Milton  ;  a  permanent 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  19 

sun,  not  immaculate  indeed,  but  full  of  glory,  and  destined 
for  a  long  time  to  rule  the  day.  Then  appeared  a  milder  lu 
minary  ;  foremost  in  the  train  of  evening,  and  delightful  to 
look  upon,  as  reflected  from  the  volumes  of  Cowper.  And  a 
noble  train  of  kindred  lights,  most  of  them  indeed  lesser  stars, 
have  since  shone  in  the  literary  heavens,  bearing  the  names 
of  Watts,  Heber,  Montgomery,  Young,  and  others  ;  to  which 
I  might  add  several  lights  that  have  dotted  the  darkness  of  our 
western  hemisphere.  We  were  also  startled,  not  long  since, 
by  the  flash  of  a  meteor  shooting  athwart  the  eastern  heavens, 
and  having  marked  out  the  Course  of  Time,  vanishing  from 

sight,— 

"  As  sets  the  morning  star,  which  goes  not  down 
Behind  the  darkened  west,  nor  hides  obscured 
Among  the  tempest  of  the  sky,  but  melts  away 
Into  the  light  of  heaven." 

Nor  ought  I  to  omit  to  point  to  that  noble  luminary,  which, 
for  so  long  a  period,  has  been  burning  with  a  mild  and  steady 
light  above  the  lakes  and  mountains  of  Northern  England, 
and  which  gives  us  some  foretaste  of  what  the  literary  hem 
isphere  will  be  when  poetic  inspiration  shall  consent  to  receive 
a  higher  inspiration  from  the  fountain  of  Scripture  —  far  purer 
than  Castalia.  To  bring  about  that  golden  age  of  poetry, 
should  be  the  grand  object  of  its  cultivators  ;  especially  of 
those  who  can  claim  the  nascitur,  non  jit.  Then,  and  not  till 
then,  will  it  be  seen  how  noble  an  auxiliary  to  virtue  and  re 
ligion  is  the  poetic  element  in  man. 

There  is  another  department  of  polite  literature  that  has 
been,  still  more  than  poetry,  monopolized  by  vice  and  irreli- 
gion,  and  which,  I  fear,  will  be  still  harder  to  reclaim.  To 
minds  averse  to  close  thinking,  to  those  whose  tastes  and  hab 
its  are  all  artificial,  and  who  have  never  acquired  a  relish  for 


20  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

the  beauties  and  wonders  of  nature,  as  well  as  to  those  who 
are  the  slaves  of  appetite  and  passion,  the  novel  and  the  ro 
mance  have  ever  possessed  irresistible  attractions.  And  since 
these  three  classes  form,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  the  prin 
cipal  part  of  society,  this  is  the  literature  that  is  most  widely 
and  abundantly  diffused.  And  while  the  demand  has  created 
a  supply,  so,  according  to  a  principle  of  political  economy,  a 
surplus  supply  has  increased  the  demand.  The  pen  and  the 
press  have  been  prolific  beyond  all  precedent ;  and  the  quality 
of  the  article  has  varied  according  to  the  demands  of  fashion. 
At  one  time  the  gross  and  disgusting  descriptions  of  Fielding 
and  Smollet  met  the  popular  taste.  Anon,  \vhat  Hannah 
More  calls  the  "  non-morality  "  of  the  Great  Unknown,  was 
in  excellent  gout.  And  since  that  prolific  fountain  has  been 
dried  up,  others,  who,  alas  for  the  cause  of  virtue  and  reli 
gion  are  too  well  known,  have  not  failed  to  disgorge  tales  of 
all  sorts,  suited  to  every  variety  of  appetite,  from  the  most 
delicate  and  refined  to  the  most  gross  and  grovelling.  For, 
like  the  frogs  of  Egypt,  these  productions  have  not  been  con 
fined  to  the  boudoirs  of  the  literati,  nor  to  the  centre  tables 
and  withdrawing  rooms  of  wealth  and  fashion,  but  have 
found  their"  way  to  the  kneading  troughs  of  the  kitchen  ;  com 
ing  there,  it  may  be,  in  one  of  those  enormous  products  of 
the  modern  press  that  might  be  mistaken  for  a  winding  sheet, 
and  which,  I  fear,  has  proved  the  winding  sheet  of  many  a 
noble  intellect. 

I  am  aware  that  not  a  few  authors,  disgusted  with  these 
perversions  of  fictitious  literature,  have  made  many  praise 
worthy  efforts  to  turn  its  current  into  the  channels  of  virtue 
and  religion.  Nor  have  they  failed  to  obtain  many  interested 
readers.  But  I  fear  that  in  most  cases  it  is  the  well-arranged 
story,  and  not  its  moral,  which  has  awakened  interest ;  — 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  21 

"  First  raising  a  combustion  of  desire, 
With  some  cold  moral  they  would  quench  the  fire." 

But  Leviathan  is  not  so  tamed.  Yet  the  fact  that  the  love 
of  novelty  is  so  strong  naturally  in  the  heart,  shows  us  that  in 
some  way  or  other  it  was  meant  to  be  gratified.  And  when 
we  learn  that  the  wonders  of  nature  far  transcend  the  won 
ders  of  romance,  is  it  not  evident,  that  if  men  can  be  brought 
to  love  nature,  and  those  branches  of  knowledge  which  unlock 
her  Elysian  fields,  this  desire  can  be  fully  satisfied  with  real 
ities,  without  the  aid  of  fiction  ?  I  have  little  hope  that  any 
successful  headway  can  be  made  against  that  morbid  love  of 
fiction  which  has  become  the  almost  universal  passion,  until 
you  can  implant  in  man's  heart  a  love  of  unsophisticated  na 
ture.  This  once  done,  and  the  fascinations  of  romance  would 
become  powerless  under  the  overmastering  influence  of  the 
new  affection.  To  restore  nature,  therefore,  to  the  throne  of 
the  heart,  and  expel  the  meretricious  usurper,  is  the  noble 
work  that  lies  before  the  scholar  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
And  when  it  shall  be  accomplished,  as  I  doubt  not  it  will  be, 
and  the  deluge  of  fictitious  literature  that  now  almost  buries 
the  civilized  world,  shall  have  passed  into  the  limbo  of  for- 
getfulness,  it  will  be  found  that  a  mighty  barrier  to  the  prog 
ress  of  true  knowledge  and  true  religion  has  been  taken  out 
of  the  way,  and  that  the  heart  which  is  alive  to  nature's  beau 
ties  is  well  prepared  to  love  the  God  of  nature,  as  well  as  the 
God  of  revelation. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  spend  time  in  showing  that  rhetoric 
and  oratory,  two  other  important  branches  of  polite  literature, 
are  capable  of  the  same  perversion  to  unworthy  purposes  as 
the  subjects  already  noticed.  In  every  human  heart  there  are 
chords,  which,  when  struck  by  the  silver  bow  of  the  rhetori 
cian,  or  the  magic  wand  of  the  orator,  cannot  but  vibrate  and 


22  THE    HIGHEST    USE    of    LEARNING. 

give  back  a  response.  But  when  stormy  passion,  or  reckless 
irreligion,  sweeps  over  those  chords,  they  return  only  discord 
ant  sounds,  that  grate  harshly  upon  the  ear  of  virtue  and  pi 
ety.  But  when  they  are  touched  by  the  delicate  and  skilful 
hands  of  true  benevolence,  the  tones  which  they  return  resemble 
the  music  of  heaven,  and  they  excite  the  spirit  of  heaven  all 
around.  To  promote  that  spirit  is  doubtless  the  grand  object 
to  which  the  Creator  intended  the  flowers  of  rhetoric  and  the 
strains  of  eloquence  should  be  devoted.  How  immensely  im 
portant,  then,  that  Christian  scholars  should  rescue  these 
branches  from  the  hands  of  the  unprincipled  and  the  wicked, 
and  convert  them  to  their  legitimate  use,  as  auxiliaries  of  vir 
tue  and  religion ! 

Some  worthy  men,  I  know,  look  with  a  jealous  eye  upon 
the  use  of  rhetorical  and  oratorical  skill  in  aid  of  religion. 
They  feel  as  if  no  attempt  should  be  made  to  set  off  and  rec 
ommend  the  naked  truth.  But,  as  remarked  by  Dr.  Camp 
bell,  how  much  better  for  the  minister  of  the  gospel  to  write 
so  as  to  make  the  critic  turn  Christian,  than  to  write  so  as  to 
make  the  Christian  turn  critic  ! 

It  is  not  in  human  nature  to  avoid  receiving  a  powerful  im 
pression  from  a  skilful  choice  and  collocation  of  words ;  and 
why  should  not  religion  avail  itself  of  this  means  of  giving 
truth  a  keener  edge  ?  It  may,  indeed,  be  carried  to  excess, 
as  Dante  seems  to  have  done  in  his  descriptions  of  the  phys 
ical  torments  of  perdition.  But  Milton,  while  he  has  given 
an  awful  distinctness  and  force  to  those  same  torments,  has 
not  exaggerated  them ;  and  why  may  not  religion  use  this 
power,  as  any  other  proper  means,  to  impress  divine  truth  ? 
In  this  respect,  thus  far.  the  children  of  this  world  have  been 
wiser  than  the  children  of  light. 

In  passing  from  literature  to  science,  on  the  great  circle  of 


THE  HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  23 

human  knowledge,  we  meet  with  intellectual  and  moral  phi 
losophy.  But  so  obvious  is  the  connection  between  the  latter 
and  the  principles  of  religion,  that  we  need  not  delay  upon  its 
elucidation.  For  every  theory  of  morals,  that  is  not  radically 
defective,  makes  the  origin  of  moral  obligation  identical  with 
that  of  religious  obligation.  So  that,  in  fact,  moral  philosophy 
is  only  one  branch  of  natural  theology.  I  regard  politics, 
also,  or  the  principles  by  which  nations  should  be  governed 
and  regulated,  as  only  a  branch  of  ethics ;  or,  rather,  as  a 
special  application  of  the  principles  of  morality  and  religion  ; 
though  I  greatly  fear  that  expediency  and  self-interest  have 
thus  far  been  the  basis  of  political  action  more  frequently 
than  moral  or  religious  principle.  By  some  writers,  intellect 
ual  philosophy,  or  psychology,  or  metaphysics,  as  they  would 
rather  choose  to  denominate  the  science,  has  been  supposed, 
upon  the  whole,  quite  disastrous  to  religion.  For  when  they 
consult  ecclesiastical  history,  they  find  that  the  most  fatal  er 
rors  in  religion  have  usually  been  based  upon  some  false  sys 
tem  of  metaphysics,  and  that  behind  its  hypothetical  and 
unintelligible  dogmas,  the  ablest  sceptics  have  .  intrenched 
themselves.  They  regard  u  the  modern  philosophy  of  the 
human  mind,  for  the  most  part,  as  a  mere  system  of  abstrac 
tions,"  "  having  almost  nothing  to  offer  of  practical  instruc 
tion  ;  "  and  although  "  the  philosophy  of  the  agency  of  sen 
tient  and  voluntary  beings  is  a  matter  of  rational  curiosity, 
it  is  nothing  more." 

I  quote  here,  for  the  most  part,  the  language  of  an  able  re 
cent  author.  But  admitting  the  truth  of  these  statements, 
they  show  one  thing  at  least ;  that  unless  theologians  are  fa 
miliar  with  the  systems  of  mental  philosophy,  so  ably  defend 
ed  by  eminent  men,  how  can  they  hope  to  expose  and  refute 
such  men  when  they  employ  metaphysical  subtleties  to  per- 


24  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

vert  religious  truth  ?  If  the  theologist  does  not  display  equal 
acuteness  with  the  ontologist,  the  latter  will  triumph  in  his  as 
saults  upon  religion.  And  if  it  be  a  false  metaphysical  philos 
ophy  that  has  led  a  man  to  adopt  a  false  religious  creed,  how 
important  that  the  advocate  of  religion  should  be  able  to  meet 
the  errorist  on  his  own  ground,  and  not  only  to  show  him  that 
he  started  wrong,  but  to  put  him  upon  the  right  track  !  "  If  it 
be  a  murky  or  misty  region,"  says  a  late  writer,  "  carry  the 
blazing  torch  of  demonstrated  truth  into  every  cloudy  cave 
and  den,  encompass  every  fastness  where  error  lurks,  and 
pour  in  the  fire  of  a  burning  logic.  The  surest  way  to  get 
protection  from  the  open,  and  especially  the  secret  ravages 
of  a  mischievous  beast,  is  to  hunt  him  down  in  his  own 
lair."  * 

But  it  is  said,  that  all  experience  shows  that  there  is  no 
safety  save  in  keeping  religion  entirely  aloof  from  metaphys 
ics*  •  What  centuries  of  disaster  followed  the  attempt  of  the 
ancient  fathers  to  incorporate  the  metaphysics  of  Platonism 
with  Christianity  !  And  how  much  longer  in  the  dark  ages 
did  the  pall  of  ignorance  and  a  perverted  Christianity  rest 
upon  the  world,  because  it  was  held  down  by  the  Peripatetic 
Philosophy,  resting  on  it  like  an  incubus !  In  our  own  day, 
too,  we  have  seen  a  glacial  period  commence  in  a  portion  of 
the  church,  from  the  freezing  influence  of  German  meta 
physics,  which  threatens  to  be  as  long  and  as  rigid  as  the 
analogous  geological  period. 

Now,  were  the  question  whether  it  were  better  for  men  to 
receive  with  childlike  confidence  the  declarations  of  the  Bi 
ble,  without  reference  to  ontological  systems,  all,  probably, 
would  reply  in  the  affirmative.  But  the  difficulty  is,  that  in- 

*  Professor  Fiske's  Address  at  East  "Windsor,  p.  8. 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

genious  and  speculative  men  will  construct  their 
strait  jackets,  into  which  they  will  force  the  doctrines  of 
revelation.  And  when  the  friends  of  piety  see  that  Religion 
is  panting  and  almost  strangled  by  this  cramping  Procrustean 
process,  how  shall  they  liberate  her  ?  They  must  have  help 
to  do  it ;  and  denunciation  and  mere  zeal  will  not  bring  help. 
They  must  show  by  a  careful  examination  and  measurement 
of  the  entire  warp,  and  woof,  and  cut  of  this  philosophical 
dress,  that  however  agreeable  it  may  be  to  the  latest  fashion, 
it  cramps  the  heart  and  the  vitals,  stops  the  circulation  of  the 
blood,  and  is  shrivelling  up  the  extremities  ;  and  then  will  all 
the  friends  of  religion  join  in  stripping  off  the  murderous 
vestment.  Do  you  suppose  that  the  errors  of  Platonism,  and 
the  peripatetic  philosophy  would  ever  have  been  weeded  out 
from  Christian  doctrines,  except  by  men  who  had  so  thorough 
ly  examined  them  as  to  be  in  no  danger  of  plucking  up  the 
truth  also  ?  Who  but  metaphysicians  could  have  exorcised 
that  famous  Plastic  Nature,  conjured  from  the  "vasty  deep," 
by  so  powerful  a  necromancer  as  Cudworth  ?  Who  but  men 
versed  in  the  subtleties  of  dreamy  abstractions  could  have 
coped  successfully  with  the  Scottish  prince  of  sceptics,  when 
he  had  gathered  a  dense  fog  around  him,  and  under  cover  of 
it  had  assailed  the  first  principles  of  all  religion  ?  Had  Kant 
been  unskilled  in  the  abstruse  speculations  of  mental  philoso 
phy,  he  could  not  so  effectually  have  demolished  the  panthe 
ism  of  Spinoza ;  and  still  more  essential  is  such  knowledge 
to  show  the  fallacy  of  those  more  recent  forms  of  the  same 
doctrine,  the  natural  pantheism  of  Schelling,  and  the  idealism 
of  Fichte. 

Another  effort  of  the  German  mind  is  to  show  that  the  ar 
gument   from   design,  to   prove  the   divine  existence,  as  ad 
vanced  by  Derham,  Ray,  Paley,  and  the  Bridge  water  Trea- 
3 


26  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

tises,  is  false,  and  that  the  idea  of  God  is  derived  from  a  sort 
of  intuition  of  the  pure  reason  ;  nor  could  the  external  world 
possibly  excite  the  idea  of  God.  These  opinions  have  gained 
not  a  little  credence  in  this  country,  falling  in,  as  they  do, 
with  what  is  called  a  spiritual  philosophy,  or  transcendental 
ism.  Now  that  there  is  a  moral  order  in  the  world,  and  in 
the  mind  itself,  and  that  the  understanding,  perceiving  this, 
•naturally  infers  that  a  Being  of  infinite  moral  perfections  must 
be  the  author  of  both,  —  because  we  instinctively  refer  every 
effect  to  a  cause,  —  cannot  be  doubted.  But  on  this  view, 
this  moral  argument,  as  it  is  called,  becomes  only  a  single  ex 
ample  of  the  argument  from  design ;  and  by  no  means  inval 
idates  or  supersedes  other  forms  of  the  argument  derived  from 
the  external  world.  Dr.  Paley's  argument  was  indeed  defec 
tive,  because  he  did  not  refer  to  mental  philosophy  to  prove 
the  spirituality  of  the  Deity.  But  that  defect  is  abundantly 
supplied  by  Chalmers,  Crombie,  and  Brougham,  so  that  now 
the  argument  which  Paley  labored  to  establish  is  impregna 
ble  ;  but  it  will  require  the  vigorous  efforts  of  men  versed  in 
abstruse  metaphysics  to  bring  it  out  of  the  fog  and  dust  with 
which  it  has  been  enveloped. 

I  have  alluded  to  transcendentalism,  dignified  as  it  has  been 
by  the  name  of  "  spiritual  philosophy,"  in  distinction  from  the 
Baconian  or  inductive,  which  is  called  "  sensuous."  This  is 
also  a  product  of  German  metaphysics  ;  and  when  one  sees 
what  an  absolutely  unintelligible  jargon  is  used  in  its  enunci 
ation,  by  its  ablest  originators,  such  as  Fichte,  Schelling,  and 
Hegel,  he  finds  it  difficult  to  conceive  how  it  has  exerted  such 
an  influence  upon  religion.  But  the  fact  is,  there  is  always 
to  some  minds,  especially  in  youth,  a  wonderful  charm  in  a 
philosophy  that  is  esoteric.  They  love  to  believe  themselves 
capable  of  discovering  a  hidden  meaning  in  facts  and  princi- 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  27 

pies,  which  the  uninitiated  cannot  discover.  Hence,  let  some 
man  of  real  talents  and  learning,  as  Swedenborg,  for  instance, 
solemnly  and  pertinaciously  declare  that  he  does  "  see  what 
is  not  to  be  seen,"  and  he  will  not  want  followers,  who  soon 
come  to  have  a  clear  vision  for  double  senses  and  spiritual 
meanings.  Indeed,  a  man  of  talents  has  only  to  be  obscure 
in  his  style  and  meaning,  in  order  to  be  regarded  by  a  large 
proportion  of  the  world,  and  among  them  not  a  few  recently 
fledged  literati,  as  very  profound.  On  the  contrary,  that  beau 
tiful  simplicity  and  clearness  of  style  and  thought,  which  are 
the  result  of  long  and  patient  investigation,  and  which  charac 
terize  the  highest  order  of  talent,  are  regarded  by  the  same 
class  as  evidence  of  a  superficial  mind  and  destitution  of  gen 
ius.  Accordingly,  the  temptation  is  very  strong  with  writers 
and  public  speakers,  who  would  be  popular,  to  wrap  them 
selves  in  the  mantle  of  mystery  and  obscurity ;  so  that  the 
remark  of  Dr.  Griffin  is  too  true,  that  the  last  attainment  of 
the  orator  is  simplicity ;  and  we  may  say  the  same,  also,  in 
respect  to  the  philosopher.  But  if  men  of  talents  will  mount 
in  the  air  balloon  of  metaphysical  speculation,  into  transcen 
dental  regions  of  clouds  and  nebulae,  and  through  their  speak 
ing  trumpets  announce  the  discovery  of  new  worlds,  unknown 
to  the  Bible  or  to  science,  Christian  men  must  ascend  after 
them  in  a  similar  vehicle,  bearing  with  them  the  torch  of 
truth,  to  ascertain  whether  a  fog  bank  has  not  been  mistaken 
for  a  planet. 

I  have  thus  far  spoken  of  the  value  of  mental  science  as  a 
necessary  means  of  detecting  religious  errors  originating  in 
the  same  science.  But  it  has  also  many  direct  and  important 
bearings  upon  religious  truth.  Did  the  time  permit  me  to 
point  them  out,  however,  it  would  be  little  more  than  a  repe 
tition  of  what  has  been  recently  said  better  and  more  fully 


28  THE    HIGHEST   USE    OF    LEARNING. 

than  I  can  do,  by  one  of  my  colleagues.*  I  pass,  therefore, 
to  another  important  sign  in  the  great  zodiac  of  human  knowl 
edge.  On  that  circle  mathematics  follows  naturally  after 
metaphysics,  because  it  furnishes  us  with  the  noblest  exam 
ples  of  abstract  truth  in  the  universe. 

But  I  fancy  that  I  hear  one  and  another  whispering,  "  What 
possible  connection  can  there  be  between  mathematics  and 
religion  ?  "  The  pure  abstractions  of  this  science  do  not, 
indeed,  lead  the  mind  directly  to  a  Deity,  since  they  may  be 
conceived  to  be  necessary  and  eternal  truths.  They  are  not 
the  result  of  an  induction  from  facts,  but  of  a  comparison  of 
ideas.  And  it  is  the  facts  of  the  natural  world  that  most  strik 
ingly  discover  to  us  the  wonders  of  adaptation  and  design, 
and  lead  the  mind  irresistibly  to  infer  a  Supreme  Being.  But 
what  is  the  basis  on  which  most  of  this  adaptation  and  design 
rests  ?  Chiefly,  I  answer,  the  laws  of  mathematics.  Look  up 
to  the  heavens,  and  you  will  find  those  laws  controlling  all 
the  movements  of  suns  and  planets  with  infallible  precision. 
Every  movement  on  earth,  also,  which  is  either  mechanical 
or  chemical,  is  equally  dependent  upon  mathematical  laws. 
Vital  operations,  too,  so  far  as  they  result  from  chemical  and 
mechanical  forces,  must  be  referred  to  the  same  principles. 
I  do  not  assert  that  life  and  intellect  are  governed  by  mathe 
matical  laws ;  but  their  operations  have  all  the  precision  of 
mathematics,  and,  I  doubt  not,  could  be  predicted  by  angelic 
minds,  certainly  by  the  Deity,  with  as  much  certainty  as  the 
astronomer  foretells  an  eclipse  or  transit ;  and  really  I  do  not 
see  but  the  same  principles  would  guide  the  calculation  in  the 
one  case  as  in  the  other.  In  short,  so  entirely  dependent  are 
the  movements  of  the  universe  upon  mathematical  laws,  that 

*  Professor  Fiske's  Address  at  East  Windsor. 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  29 

to  alter  or  annul  these  laws  would  be  to  restore  the  reign  of 
Chaos  and  old  Night.  Let  but  a  single  axiom  or  corollary  of 
mathematics  be  changed,  and  I  doubt  not  that  wild  disorder 
and  ruin  would  soon  take  the  place  of  the  adaptation  and 
beautiful  design  that  now  meet  us  at  every  step.  Mathematics 
then  forms  the  very  framework  of  nature's  harmonies,  and  is 
essential  to  the  argument  for  a  God.  Instead  of  having  no 
connection  with  religion,  it  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  theism. 

It  seems  to  me,  also,  that  mathematics  aids  us  in  the  con 
ception  of  some  religious  truths,  difficult  from  their  nature  to 
be  conceived  of  by  finite  minds.  All  the  attributes  of  the 
Deity,  being  infinite,  are  of  this  description.  But  the  contem 
plation  of  an  endless  series  in  mathematics  gives  us  the  near 
est  approach  to  an  idea  of  the  infinite  which  we  can  attain. 
Follow  the  series,  indeed,  as  far  as  our  powers  will  carry  us, 
and  we  are  still  no  nearer  the  end  than  when  we  started. 
But  we  have  got  hold  of  the  thread  that  would  conduct  us,  if 
our  Daedalian  wings  did  not  fail  us,  across  that  interminable 
abyss  which  separates  the  finite  from  the  infinite  ;  and  when 
we  transfer  our  mathematical  conceptions  to  the  Deity,  we  can 
hardly  fail  to  meditate  upon  his  glories  with  deeper  amaze 
ment. 

To  many  minds  all  explanations  of  the  biblical  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  appear  so  absurd  and  contradictory  as  not  to  ad 
mit  of  belief.  Let  it,  however,  be  stated  to  such  a  man,  for 
the  first  time,  that  two  lines  may  approach  each  other  forever 
without  meeting,  and  it  will  appear  to  him  as  absurd  as  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  But  after  you  have  demonstrated  to 
him  the  properties  of  the  hyperbola  and  its  asymptote,  the  ap 
parent  absurdity  vanishes.  And  so  after  the  theologian  has 
stated,  that  by  divine  unity  he  means  only  a  numerical  unity, 
—  in  other  words,  that  there  is  but  one  Supreme  Being,  and 


30  THE  HIGHEST  USE  OF  LEARNING. 

that  the  three  persons  of  the  Godhead  are  one  in  this  sense, 
and  three  only  in  those  respects  not  inconsistent  with  this 
unity,  every  philosophical  mind,  whether  it  admit  or  not  that 
the  Scriptures  teach  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  must  see  that 
there  is  no  absurdity  or  contradiction  in  this  view  of  it. 
Hence  it  may  happen,  and  indeed  it  has  happened,  that  the 
solution  of  a  man's  difficulties  on  this  subject  may  originate 
in  a  proposition  of  conic  sections. 

Other  peculiar  truths  of  revelation  receive  striking  support 
from  the  application  of  mathematical  principles.  Among 
these  is  the  doctrine  of  special  or  miraculous  providence. 
Professor  Babbage,  in  that  singular  yet  ingenious  work, 
called  the  Ninth  Bridgpwater  Treatise,  has  shown  mathemat 
ically,  that  miracles  may  have  formed  a  part  of  the  original 
and  foreordained  plan  of  the  universe,  and  that  their  occur 
rence  may  be  as  really  the  result  of  natural  laws  as  ordina 
ry  events — a  doctrine  which,  indeed,  had  been  previously 
advanced  by  Butler.  And  in  this  way  is  the  famous  objection 
of  David  Hume  to  miracles  proved  by  mathematics  to  be 
groundless. 

Other  religious  applications  of  mathematics  might  be  point 
ed  out.  But  we  must  hasten  forward  to  that  wide  space  on  the 
circle  of  human  knowledge,  occupied  by  the  inductive  sci 
ences.  These  comprehend,  in  fact,  all  those  branches  that 
relate  to  the  material  universe  ;  and  when  we  have  glanced  at 
them,  we  shall  have  completed  the  circuit  of  literature  and 
science. 

And  here,  at  the  outset,  we  remark,  that  from  these  sciences 
have  been  gathered  that  great  mass  of  facts  which  constitute 
the  essence  of  natural  theology,  by  such  men  as  Ncwintyt, 
Ray,  Derham,  Wollaston,  Pa]ey,  Brown,  and  the  authors  of 
the  Bridgewater  Treatises.  The  a  posteriori  argument  for 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  31 

the  divine  existence  rests  upon  them,  and,  indeed,  almost  all 
the  truths  pertaining  to  the  character  of  the  Deity  and  his 
government  that  nature  discloses.  They  are  arguments  which 
all  men  can  readily  understand  and  appreciate ;  for  although 
a  few  metaphysical  minds  have  endeavored  to  throw  doubt 
over  the  validity  of  the  argument  from  design,  as  I  have  al 
ready  stated,  yet  this  is  in  fact  the  only  evidence  that  does 
interest  and  satisfy  the  great  mass  of  men.  When  they  see 
such  wonderful  effects  as  physical  science  discloses,  they  are 
led  irresistibly,  by  a  universal  law  of  the  human  mind,  to  re 
fer  them  to  some  adequate  cause ;  and  no  cause  can  be  ade 
quate  save  an  infinite  Deity.  Natural  theology  has  selected 
only  the  most  striking  of  these  effects.  But  in  truth  every 
fact  of  inductive  science  furnishes  an  argument  for  theism. 
So  that  to  a  man  in  a  morally  healthy  state,  every  scientific 
truth  becomes  a  religious  truth,  and  nature  is  converted  into 
one  great  temple,  where  sacred  fire  is  always  burning  upon 
the  altars,  where  hovers  the  glorious  Shekinah,  and  where, 
from  a  full  orchestra,  the  anthem  of  praise  is  ever  ascending. 
In  accordance  with  this  view,  we  find  that  the  most  gifted 
minds,  and  indeed  a  large  majority  of  all  minds  that  have  de 
voted  themselves  to  inductive  science,  have  been  the  friends 
of  religion.  And  here  we  reckon  the  princes  of  the  intel 
lectual  world,  such  as  Newton,  Kepler,  Galileo,  Pascal,  Boyle, 
Copernicus,  Linnaeus,  Black,  Boerhaave,  and  Dalton  ;  and 
among  the  living  such  men  as  Herschel,  Brewster,  Whewell, 
Sedgwick,  Owen,  and  a  multitude  of  others.  The  very  same 
argumentation  that  leads  such  original  discoverers  to  derive 
the  principles  of  science  from  facts  in  nature,  carries  them 
irresistibly  backward  to  a  First  Cause  ;  and,  indeed,  the  induc 
tive  principle,  as  developed  by  Bacon,  forms  the  true  basis  on 
which  to  build  the  whole  fabric  of  natural  religion  ;  and  he 


32  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

who  fully  admits  the  truth  of  natural  religion,  is  in  a  state  of 
preparation  for  receiving  revealed  truth  to  supply  its  defi 
ciencies.  So  that,  upon  the  whole,  the  inductive  sciences  are 
of  all  others  most  favorable  to  religion,  and  the  most  intimate 
ly  connected  with  it. 

I  shall  doubtless  be  met  here  by  the  objection,  that  not  a 
few  distinguished  men,  found  in  the  ranks  of  inductive  science, 
have  been  thorough  sceptics.  And  here  the  names  of  some 
of  the  most  able  mathematicians  of  modern  times,  such  as  La 
Place  and  D'Alembert,  will  be  adduced.  We  shall  be  re 
ferred  to  the  Nebular  Hypothesis  of  the  former,  and  to  the 
Encyclopaedia  of  the  latter;  both  of  them  intended  to  lay  the 
axe  at  the  root  of  all  religion,  and  to  cover  nature  with  the 
pall  of  atheism.  But  such  anomalies  as  these  are  explicable 
in  consistency  with  the  general  position  that  inductive  science 
is  eminently  favorable  to  religion.  For  in  the  first  place, 
these  men  were  atheists  in  spite  of  science,  rather  than 
through  its  influence.  The  spirit  of  the  times,  and  of  the 
country  in  which  they  lived,  was  dissolute  and  atheistic  ;  and 
the  moral  feelings  of  D'Alembert,  at  least,  were  so  corrupt 
that  nothing  but  atheism  could  keep  conscience  quiet.  In 
the  second  place,  they  were  distinguished  in  abstruse  mathe 
matics,  rather  than  in  inductive  science ;  and  it  cannot  be  de 
nied,  that  when  men  devote  themselves  almost  exclusively  to 
abstractions  of  this  nature,  they  are  apt  to  look  with  suspicion 
upon  the  less  certain,  but  far  higher  and  more  important 
evidence  of  moral  reasoning ;  or  rather,  they  attempt  to  ap 
ply  the  subtleties  of  the  higher  mathematics  to  religion,  and 
of  course  fail  of  arriving  at  correct  results,  because  the  sub 
jects  are  totally  diverse,  and  must  be  understood  by  entirely 
different  modes  of  analysis.  Bonaparte,  who  was  quick  to 
discover  character,  made  La  Place  one  of  his  ministers,  but 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  33 

soon  saw  that  he  did  not  discharge  his  duties  with  much  abil 
ity,  because,  as  the  emperor  said,  "  he  sought  subtleties  in 
every  subject,  and  carried  into  his  official  employments  the 
spirit  of  the  method  of  infinitely  small  quantities,"  employed 
by  mathematicians.  But  the  grand  difficulty  with  such  men 
is,  that  by  confining  their  attention  so  exclusively  to  one  de 
partment  of  knowledge,  and  to  the  cultivation  of  one  set  of 
faculties,  by  a  well-known  law  of  physiology  they  dwarf  all 
the  other  powers,  and  really  become  less  capable  of  judging 
of  other  subjects  than  ordinary  men,  who  cultivate  all  their 
faculties  in  due  proportion.  This  is  strikingly  exhibited  in 
the  Nebular  Hypothesis  of  La  Place.  He  really  thought  that 
it  rendered  a  Deity  unnecessary  in  the  formation  of  the  uni 
verse.  But  the  merest  tyro  in  moral  reasoning  sees,  that, 
even  admitting  the  hypothesis,  a  designing,  infinitely  wise, 
and  powerful  Deity  is  just  as  necessary  as  without  it.  It  only 
throws  farther  back  the  period  when  this  designing  and  crea 
tive  interposition  was  exerted ;  and  even  the  Christian  philos 
opher  feels  no  difficulty  in  adopting  this  hypothesis,  through 
fear  of  its  irreligious  tendency.  The  fact  is,  that  La  Place, 
though  a  giant  in  mathematics,  was  only  a  liliput  on  other 
subjects.  It  ought  not  to  be  forgotten,  also,  that  neither  of 
the  eminent  infidel  mathematicians  whom  I  have  named  were 
original  discoverers,  like  Newton,  Copernicus,  and  Boyle.  In 
making  their  discoveries,  these  latter  men  were  led  to  take 
broad  views  of  science,  and  to  examine  the  original  as  well 
as  final  causes  of  events  ;  whereas  such  men  as  La  Place 
and  D^Vlembert  only  carried  out  and  illustrated  the  principles 
discovered  by  others.  In  tracing  out  these  illustrations,  they 
did,  indeed,  discover  amazing  acuteness  ;  but  their  views  wore 
so  much  confined,  that  they  were  but  poor  judges  of  the  rela 
tions  of  science  to  religion.  They  were  excellent  mathema- 


34  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

ticians,  but  poor  philosophers.  For  in  the  noble  language  of 
Sir  John  Herschel,  one  of  the  brightest  living  ornaments  of  in 
ductive  science  in  Europe,  "  the  character  of  the  true  philoso 
pher  is,  to  hope  all  things  not  impossible,  and  to  believe  all 
things  not  unreasonable."  But  the  character  of  these  men 
would  be  better  described  by  saying,  that  they  doubted  and 
denied  every  thing  that  could  not  be  proved  by  mathematics. 
They  are  examples  of  malformation  and  distortion  in  the 
philosophical  world,  instead  of  fair  proportion  and  full  devel 
opment. 

There  is  another  circumstance  which  has  deepened  the  im 
pression  that  the  inductive  sciences  are,  to  some  extent,  un 
favorable  to  religion.  Scarcely  any  important  discovery  has 
been  made  in  these  branches,  that  has  not  been  regarded  for 
a  time,  either  by  the  timid  and  jealous  friends  of  religion,  or 
by  its  superficial  enemies,  to  be  opposed  at  least  to  revelation, 
if  not  to  theism.  When  Copernicus  demonstrated  the  diurnal 
and  annual  revolutions  of  the  earth,  the  infidel  saw  clearly 
that  the  facts  were  in  opposition  to  the  Bible  ;  and  the  theolo 
gian  was  of  the  same  opinion,  and  arrayed  Scripture  authority, 
as  well  as  compact  syllogisms,  against  the  new  astronomy. 
But  the  Christian  soon  learned  that  he  had  misunderstood  the 
language  of  the  Bible,  because  he  had  read  it  through  the 
medium  of  a  false  astronomy.  So  too,  when  the  Brahminical 
astronomy  was  first  brought  to  light,  and  the  epoch  of  the 
Tirvalore  tables  was  thought  to  be  nearly  as  early  as  the 
Mosaic  date  of  man's  creation,  scepticism  began  to  exult. 
But  the  tone  changed  when  it  was  ascertained  that  this  epoch 
was  supposititious.  More  recently,  French  infidelity  saw  in 
the  Zodiac  of  Denderah  a  refutation  of  the  biblical  chronol 
ogy.  But  when  it  was  ascertained  that  the  position  of  the 
signs  on  that  Zodiac,  in  respect  to  the  colures,  had  reference 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  35 

to  the  commencement  of  the  Egyptian  civil  year,  and  not  to 
the  precession  of  the  equinoxes,  this  fancied  discrepancy  also 
vanished  :  and  now,  when  both  biblical  interpretation  and  as 
tronomy  are  better  understood,  every  one  confesses,  not  only 
that  the  science  is  in  harmony  with  revelation,  but  that  it  af 
fords  some  of  the  most  splendid  illustrations  of  religion  to  be 
found  in  the  whole  circle  of  learning. 

When,  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  great  dis 
covery  was  announced,  that  the  principal  part  of  the  solid 
materials  of  the  earth  had  been  oxidized,  or  in  popular  lan 
guage  had  been  burned,  both  the  baptized  and  the  unbaptized 
infidel  at  once  declared,  that  the  final  destruction  of  the  earth, 
as  described  by  Peter,  was  impossible,  since  it  is  no  longer 
combustible  ;  and  since  the  apostle  had  thus  erred,  because 
not  acquainted  with  modern  chemistry,  the  idea  of  his  inspira 
tion  must  be  given  up.  It  was  ere  long  found,  however,  that 
the  apostle's  language  had  been  misunderstood,  through  the 
influence  of  the  false  opinion,  still  widely  entertained,  that  to 
burn  a  substance  is  to  destroy  or  annihilate  it.  But  when 
chemistry  showed  that  combustion  only  changes  the  form  of 
substances,  and  cannot  annihilate  a  particle,  the  apostle's 
meaning  was  found  perfectly  to  correspond  to  such  an  idea  : 
and  it  is  now  obvious,  that  he  meant  to  teach  simply,  that 
whatever  upon  or  within  the  earth  is  combustible,  will  be 
burned,  and  the  whole  mass  of  the  globe  be  melted.  So  that 
now  the  tables  are  completely  turned  ;  and  we  find,  not  only 
no  contradiction  between  his  language  and  chemistry,  but  a 
striking  proof  of  its  inspired  origin,  in  the  fact,  that  though 
written  when  chemistry  was  not  known,  it  should  be  found  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  researches  of  that  science.  And 
the  same  remark  may  be  applied  to  the  whole  Scriptures  in 
their  relation  to  all  science.  The  most  eagle-eyed  sagacity 


36  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

of  the  nineteenth  century  has  been  unable  to  detect  a  single 
discrepancy  between  the  two  records.  The  same  cannot  be 
said  of  any  false  religion.  The  Shasters  of  Hindostan  contain 
a  false  astronomy,  as  well  as  a  false  anatomy  and  physiology, 
and  the  Koran  distinctly  avows  the  Ptolemaic  system  of. the 
heavenly  bodies  ;  and  so  interwoven  are  these  scientific  errors 
with  the  religion  of  these  sacred  books,  that  when  you  have 
proved  the  former  you  have  disproved  the  latter.  But  the 
Bible,  stating  only  facts,  and  adopting  no  system  of  human 
philosophy,  has  ever  stood,  and  ever  shall  stand,  in  sublime 
simplicity  and  undecaying  strength  ;  while  the  winds  and  the 
waves  of  conflicting  human  opinions  roar  and  dash  harmlessly 
around,  and  the  wrecks  of  a  thousand  false  systems  of  philoso 
phy  and  religion  are  strewed  along  its  base. 

But  the  religious  applications  of  chemistry  do  not  consist 
simply  in  illustrating  a  passage  of  Scripture.  It  abounds  with 
the  most  beautiful  exhibitions  of  the  divine  wisdom  and  be 
nevolence  ;  and  notwithstanding  the  ingenious  developments 
by  Prout,  in  his  Bridgewater  Treatise,  and  by  Fownes  in  his 
Prize  Essay,  I  must  believe  that  this  field  is  only  just  entered, 
and  that  most  precious  gems  will  be  found  in  almost  every 
part  of  its  wide  extent.  What  admirable  skill  and  benevolence 
does  the  doctrine  of  definite  proportions  and  atomic  constitu 
tion  in  chemical  compounds  present !  Here  we  see  nature 
incessantly  performing  processes,  on  which  organic  life  and 
comfort  depend,  with  a  practical  mathematics  as  perfect  as 
the  theory.  And  then,  how  wonderful  is  the  isomeric  consti 
tution,  recently  discovered,  of  those  proximate  principles  that 
form  the  food  of  animals  and  plants  !  How  beautiful,  too,  the 
mode  —  only  recently  ascertained  —  by  which  this  nourish 
ment  is  brought  within  their  reach,  and  introduced  into  their 
systems  !  See,  too,  what  wonderful  benevolence,  as  well  as 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  37 

wisdom,  is  displayed  in  the  laws  and  operations  of  heat,  by 
which  its  very  excess  in  tropical  regions  produces,  by  evapo 
ration,  the  paradoxical  result  of  cooling  and  rendering  habi 
table  that  burning  zone  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  the  congela 
tion  and  condensation,  produced  by  its  absence  in  frigid  regions, 
renders  the  atmosphere  warmer  and  the  climate  habitable. 
Think,  also,  how,  in  the  case  of  water,  by  an  apparent  excep 
tion  to  a  law  of  nature,  just  as  it  enters  into  a  state  of  con 
gelation,  the  great  bodies  of  that  liquid  in  our  rivers  and  lakes 
are  prevented  from  freezing  up  in  the  winter,  so  that  the 
longest  summer  would  not  thaw  them  out.  And  finally,  what 
substance  in  nature  is  so  wonderfully  adapted  to  its  manifold 
and  seemingly  opposite  uses  as  water ! 

"  Simple  though  it  seem, 
Emblem  of  imbecility  itself, 
As  most  regard  it,  yet  in  fact,  the  food 
Of  all  organic  life  ;  the  fruitful  source 
Of  power  in  human  arts  ;  and  in  the  clouds, 
The  storm,  the  mountain  stream,  the  placid  lake, 
The  ocean's  roaring  and  the  glacier's  sheen, 
The  landscape's  frostwork,  or  its  icy  gems, 
Hence  springs  the  beautiful  and  the  sublime. 
A  power,  indeed,  pervading  nature  through ; 
Now  moving  noiseless  through  organic  tubes, 
To  keep  stagnation  from  the  vital  frame ; 
And  now  the  Atlantic  dashing  to  the  skies, 
Or  rushing  down  Niagara's  rocky  steep, 
Earth  trembling,  staggering,  underneath  the  shock  : 
Effects  so  diverse,  opposite,  to  gain 
By  one  mild  element,  a  problem  this, 
No  wisdom,  short  of  infinite,  could  solve." 

No  sciences  have  furnished  so  many  and  so  appropriate 
facts,  illustrative  of  natural  theology,  as  anatomy  and  physi 
ology.     They  have  been  the  great  magazine  whence  writers 
on  that  subject  .have   drawn  their  most  effective  weapons  in 
4 


38  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

their  war  with  atheism  :  but  being  so  fully  described  in  so 
many  treatises,  I  need  not  enter  into  particulars.  Compara 
tive  anatomy  and  physiology,  however,  of  more  recent  date, 
have  not  yet  been  so  extensively  employed  for  religious  illus 
tration  as  they  will  be  ;  although  Bell's  Bridgewater  Treatise 
upon  the  hand  affords  us  a  foretaste  of  what  may  be  done. 
The  developments  of  these  sciences  are  truly  marvellous. 
Who  would  have  believed,  for  instance,  fifty  years  ago,  that 
such  is  the  mathematical  correlation,  not  only  of  different 
parts  of  an  animal,  but  of  parts  of  different  animals,  that  from 
a  single  fragment  of  the  bone  of  an  unknown  creature,  the 
skilful  anatomist  can  construct  his  whole  skeleton,  and  then 
clothe  it  with  muscles,  blood  vessels,  and  nerves,  and  point  out 
its  food,  its  habits,  and  its  haunts  ?  Yet  this  has  been  done  in 
many  instances  ;  and  the  subsequent  discovery  of  the  whole 
skeleton  has  confirmed  the  accuracy  of  the  principle  employed, 
and  the  results  obtained.  What  a  striking  proof  of  the  exist 
ence  and  agency  of  a  Being  infinitely  wise  and  powerful, 
to  contrive  and  create  the  universe  !  For,  in  fact,  we  find 
that  the  correlation  of  animal  structures,  so  beautifully  devel 
oped  by  Cuvier,  Owen,  and  others,  is  but  a  specific  example 
of  the  great  law  of  harmony,  that  links  together,  by  a  golden 
chain,  the  great  and  the  small,  the  past,  the  present,  and  the 
future,  throughout  the  universe. 

The  science  of  physiology,  however,  has  often  been  looked 
upon  with  jealousy  by  the  friends  of  religion,  as  leading  its 
votaries  to  materialism.  It  would  not  be  strange,  indeed,  if 
men,  who  see  such  astonishing  effects  result  from  exquisite 
material  organization,  and  who  give  but  little  attention  to  the 
functions  and  laws  of  intellect,  should  come  to  think  it  possi 
ble  that  even  thought  may  be  only  a  result  of  that  organiza 
tion.  But  the  difficulty  lies,  not  in  the  science,  but  in  these 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  39 

partial  views  —  in  that  common  failing  of  literary  men,  to  at 
tempt  to  group  every  thing  under  a  favorite  science,  and  ex 
plain  every  thing  by  it.  And  further,  when  I  find  even  pro 
fessedly  Christian  men  defending  materialism,  and  some  of 
its  ablest  advocates  admitting  that  the  soul  may  be  something 
"  immortal,  subtle,  immaterial,  diffused  through  the  brain,"* 
(I  use  their  very  words,)  I  cannot  believe  that  the  views  of 
such  men,  as  to  the  nature  of  the  soul,  differ  much  in  reality 
from  those  of  the  strict  immaterialist,  although  they  use 
different  terms.  Nor  will  the  practical  influence  of  their 
opinions,  false  as  they  undoubtedly  are,  when  understood  in 
their  strict  sense,  be  likely  to  be  very  disastrous  ;  although 
there  is  a  grosser  form  of  materialism,  that  is  made  the  basis 
of  a  hateful  system  of  atheism. 

There  are  two  recent  offsets  from  physiology,  which  have 
been  supposed  fraught  with  influences  unfavorable  to  religion. 
I  refer  to  phrenology  and  mesmerism.  The  first  has  been 
thought  to  favor  materialism,  and  to  lessen  human  responsi 
bility  ;  and  the  latter,  to  bring  miracles  into  disrepute,  and  to 
direct  us,  for  the  cure  of  the  body  and  the  soul,  to  a  class  of 
dreaming  pretenders,  whose  responses  are  about  as  much  to  be 
relied  on  as  those  of  the  oracle  of  Delphos,  the  god  of  Ekron, 
or  the  witch  of  Endor,  and  whom  it  is  about  as  impious 
to  consult.  The  merits  of  these  new  branches  of  science, 
this  is  not  the  proper  occasion  to  discuss  ;  nor  is  it  easy  as 
yet  to  ascertain  definitely  what  principles  in  them  are  settled. 
But  admitting  their  pretensions,  the  first  seems  to  leave  the 
question  of  materialism  just  where  it  found  it ;  since  it  is  as 
easy  to  see  how  an  immaterial  soul  should  act  through  a 
hundred  organs  as  through  one.  Nor  does  it  seem  to  me 
more  difficult,  on  natural  principles,  to  see  how  the  mind  may 

*  Elliotson's  Physiology,  p.  39. 


40  THE    HIGHEST   USE    OF    LEARNING. 

act  at  a  distance,  through  the  undulations  of  a  mesmeric  me 
dium,  than  to  see  how  light  and  heat  are  transmitted  hy  the 
waves  of  a  luminiferous  ether.  On  the  other  hand,  if  physi 
ology  and  phrenology  tend  to  materialism,  certainly  mesmer 
ism  tends  even  more  decidedly  to  immaterialism  ;  as  the  con 
version  of  several  distinguished  materialists  will  testify.  It 
does,  also,  open  to  the  Christian  (admitting  its  statements  to 
be  true)  most  interesting  glimpses  of  the  mode  in  which  the 
mind  may  act  when  freed  from  flesh  and  blood,  and  clothed 
with  a  spiritual  body.  Indeed,  I  doubt  not  that,  in  regard  both 
to  phrenology  and  mesmerism,  the  general  principle  will  prove 
true,  that  the  more  ominous  of  evil  any  branch  of  knowledge 
seems  to  be  in  its  incipient  state,  the  more  prolific  it  will  ulti 
mately  become  in  illustrations  favorable  both  to  morality  and 
religion. 

The  wide  dominions  of  natural  history,  embracing  zoology, 
botany,  and  mineralogy,  the  theologist  has  ever  found  crowded 
with  demonstrations  of  the  divine  existence,  and  of  God's  prov 
idential  care  and  government ;  and  every  new  province  that 
has  been  explored  by  the  naturalist  only  serves  to  enlarge 
our  conceptions  of  the  Creator's  works,  and  to  impress  us 
more  deeply  with  their  unity  and  perfection.  These  new 
conquests  in  unknown  regions  have  been  astonishingly  numer 
ous  within  the  last  half  century  ;  but  in  the  direction  pointed 
out  by  the  microscope  they  have  been  most  marvellous.  The 
existence  of  animals  too  minute  to  be  seen  by  the  naked  eye 
has,  indeed,  long  been  known  ;  but  it  was  not  till  the  re 
searches  of  Ehrenberg  that  any  just  conceptions  of  their  in 
finite  number  and  indefinite  minuteness  were  entertained. 
We  now  know  that  nine  millions  of  some  of  these  animalcula 
may  live  in  a  space  not  larger  than  a  mustard  seed,  and  that 
their  numbers  are  many  million  times  greater  than  that  of  all 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  41 

other  animals  on  the  globe.  Indeed,  the  microscope  has  laid 
open  a  field  into  the  infinitesimal  forms  of  organic  and  inor 
ganic  nature  quite  as  boundless,  both  in  number  and  extent, 
as  the  telescope  discloses  in  infinite  space.  Nor  can  we  find 
any  limits  in  the  one  direction  more  than  the  other ;  and  thus 
does  the  microscope,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  telescope, 
prodigiously  enlarge  our  conceptions  of  the  perfections  of  the 
infinite  Author  of  the  universe. 

These  researches  have  cast  not  a  little  light  upon  a  certain 
hypothesis,  that  has  been,  in  one  form  or  another,  often  thrown 
before  the  world  since  the  days  of  Democritus  and  Epicurus, 
usually  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  a  system  of  atheism.  It 
supposes  an  inherent  power  in  nature,  capable  of  producing 
plants  and  animals  without  parentage,  by  an  imagined  vital 
force,  essential  to  some  forms  of  matter.  The  ancient  phi 
losophers  imputed  these  effects  to  a  "  fortuitous  concourse  of 
atoms."  In  modern  times  this  general  statement  has  been 
made  more  definite  by  Lamarck,  Geoffrey  St.  Hilaire,  Bory 
St.  Vincent,  and  others,  who  suppose  that  Nature  —  in  their 
vocabulary  sometimes  dignified  by  the  title  of  Deity,  but  still 
unintelligent,  and  merely  instrumental  —  gives  origin  only  to 
"  monads,"  or  "  rough  draughts  "  of  organic  beings ;  and  that 
these,  by  "  an  inherent  tendency  to  improvement,"  and  "  the 
force  of  external  circumstances,"  become  animals  of  higher 
and  higher  organization ;  until  at  last  the  orang-outang  aban 
doned  his  quadrupedal  condition,  and  stood  erect  as  man,  with 
all  his  lofty  powers  of  intellect.  Before  the  invention  of  the 
microscope,  a  multitude  of  insects  and  worms  were  thought 
to  have  this  equivocal  origin,  and  to  pass  through  these  trans 
mutations —  an  example  of  which  every  Latin  scholar  will 
recollect  in  the  directions  of  Virgil  for  the  production  of  a 
swarm  of  bees  out  of  the  carcass  of  an  animal.  But  as  op- 
4* 


42  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

deal  instruments  have  been  improved,  and  observations  have 
become  more  acute,  the  origin  of  nearly  every  animal  visible 
to  the  naked  eye  has  been  found  to  be  by  ordinary  genera 
tion.  The  advocates  of  the  spontaneous  production  of  organic 
beings,  however,  still  clung  to  the  animalcula  and  the  entozoa. 
But  it  is  now  clearly  demonstrated  that  all  the  former  class 
have  been  derived  from  parents;  and  that  more  abundant 
means  are  provided  for  their  reproduction  than  for  any  of  the 
higher  tribes  of  animals.  The  same  is  true  of  the  entozoa 
—  a  single  individual  of  which  is  capable  of  producing  more 
than  sixty  millions  of  progeny ;  and  it  would  be  very  strange 
for  nature  to  take  such  extraordinary  pains  for  their  propaga 
tion  if  it  might  have  been  accomplished  spontaneously.  Not 
a  single  certain  example,  indeed,  of  the  spontaneous  produc 
tion  of  living  beings  can  be  adduced ;  and  if  there  are  a  few 
cases  where  parentage  has  not  been  yet  discovered,  the  past 
history  of  the  subject  makes  it  almost  certain  that  it  needs 
only  more  perfect  instruments,  or  more  extended  observa 
tions,  to  prove  that  the  same  great  law  of  reproduction  em 
braces  all  animated  nature.  And  as  to  the  transmutation  of 
species,  geology  has  shown  that  it  has  never  taken  place  ;  while 
physiology  demonstrates  that  species  are  permanent,  and  can 
never  be  transmuted.  The  individual  does,  indeed,  pass  through 
different  stages  of  development,  some  of  which  resemble  the 
perfect  forms  of  species  inferior  to  it  in  the  organic  scale.  But 
the  limits  of  these  developments  are  fixed  for  each  species ; 
nor  is  there  a  single  known  instance  in  which  an  individual 
has  been  able  to  stop  at  any  particular  stage,  and  thus  become 
another  species. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  it  is  not  strange  that  most  of  the  men 
best  qualified  to  judge  on  such  a  subject  —  as  for  instance, 
Owen,  the  ablest  of  comparative  anatomists ;  Ehrenberg,  the 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  43 

first  of  rnicroscopists  ;  and  Muller,  most  eminent  in  physi 
ology —  should  reject  these  hypotheses  of  spontaneous  gen 
eration  and  transmutation.  Nevertheless,  the  unusual  interest 
which  has  been  manifested  by  the  recent  work  entitled  Ves 
tiges  of  the  Natural  History  of  the  Creation  —  wherein  these 
hypotheses,  as  well  as  the  nebular  hypothesis,  are  ingeniously 
defended,  and  that,  too,  without  denying  the  original  interven 
tion  of  a  divine  Power  in  nature  —  show  us  that  a  long-drawn 
contest  is  yet  before  naturalists  on  these  subjects,  ere  these 
fancies  shall  be  forced  into  that  extramundane  receptacle  of 
things  abortive  and  unaccomplished,  described  by  Milton  as 
"  a  limbo  large  and  wide,"  on  the  back  side  of  the  moon. 
And  yet,  my  conviction  is  that  this  contest  will  not  have  so 
important  a  bearing  on  the  cause  of  religion  as  some  theol- 
ogists  imagine.  For,  even  though  these  hypotheses  should  be 
established,  an  intelligent,  spiritual,  infinite  Deity  is  quite  as 
necessary  to  account  for  existing  nature  as  on  the  more  com 
mon  theory,  which  supposes  the  universe  commanded  from 
nothing  at  once  in  a  perfect  state.  Indeed,  to  endow  the  par 
ticles  of  matter  with  the  power  to  form  exquisite  organic  com 
pounds,  just  at  the  moment  when  circumstances  are  best 
adapted  to  their  existence,  and  then  to  become  animated,  nay, 
endowed  with  instincts,  and  with  lofty  intellects,  —  all  which 
results  the  advocates  of  these  hypotheses  must  impute  to  the 
laws  impressed  upon  originally  brute  matter,  —  such  effects, 
I  say,  demand  infinite  wisdom,  power,  and  benevolence  even 
more  imperatively  than  the  common  theories  of  creation.  I 
doubt  not  that  in  general  these  hypotheses  have  been  adopted 
to  sustain  atheistic  opinions,  or  to  remove  the  Deity  away  from 
his  works.  But  unbiased  philosophy  sees  that  they  utterly 
fail  to  accomplish  either  of  these  objects.  And  I  confess  that 
I  reject  them  more  because  they  have  no  solid  evidence  in 


44  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

their  favor  than  because  I  fear  that  they  will  ultimately  be  of 
much  injury  to  religion ;  especially  so  long  as  such  works  as 
Whewell's  Indications  of  the  Creator  are  within  the  reach  of 
the  scholar. 

The  religious  bearings  of  geology  alone  remain  to  be  no 
ticed.  And  no  science,  except  perhaps  astronomy,  has  excited 
so  much  alarm  as  this  for  its  supposed  irreligious  tendencies. 
But  so  soon  as  theologians  discovered  that  while  the  Mosaic 
chronology  fixes  the  date  of  man's  creation,  it  leaves  the  an 
tiquity  of  the  globe  unsettled,  and,  therefore,  a  fit  subject  for 
philosophical  examination,  they  began  to  see  that  this  science 
might  be  made  to  shed  much  light  upon  religion.  Indeed,  it 
already  excels  every  other  science  in  the  importance  of  its 
religious  applications ;  and  notwithstanding  the  noble  begin 
nings  by  Dr.  Buckland,  Dr.  J.  Pye  Smith,  Dr.  Chalmers,  and 
others,  the  work  of  development  is  but  just  begun.  Would  that 
my  time  and  the  reader's  patience  might  permit  us  to  take  a 
leisurely  survey  of  this  interesting  field.  But  a  glance  must 
suffice. 

To  say  nothing  of  the  illustrations  of  the  meaning  of  re 
vealed  truth  derived  from  this  science,  —  of  collision  between 
them  there  is  certainly  none,  —  it  furnishes  us,  in  the  first 
place,  with  a  new  argument  for  the  existence  of  a  Deity. 
This  argument  rests  upon  three  leading  facts  of  the  science 
independent  of  one  another ;  so  that  we  may  doubt  or  deny 
one  or  two  of  them,  and  yet  not  reject  the  argument.  The 
first  is,  that  there  was  a  period  when  no  animals  or  plants 
existed  on  the  globe,  and,  therefore,  an  epoch  when  they 
were  created  ;  which  must  have  required  a  Being  of  infinite 
perfections.  The  second  is,  that  there  have  been  on  the 
globe  several  nearly  entire  extinctions  and  renewals  of  or 
ganic  life,  each  of  which  demands  the  agency  of  such  a 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  45 

Being.  The  third  is,  that  man  was  only  recently  created  — 
almost  the  last  of  the  animals ;  and  since  he  is  at  the  head  of 
creation,  nothing  in  nature  has  demanded  a  higher  exercise 
of  wisdom  and  power  than  his  production  ;  and,  therefore,  it 
must  have  required  a  Deity. 

It  is  obvious  that  these  same  facts  prove  clearly  the  non- 
eternity  of  the  present  condition  of  the  globe  ;  and  even 
though  we  admit  the  ancient  doctrine  of  matter's  eternity, 
yet  its  most  important  modifications,  requiring  a  Deity  no  less 
than  its  creation,  must  have  been  produced  in  time,  and  this 
conclusion  is  all  that  is  essential  to  theism.  And  thus  geol 
ogy,  which  has  been  supposed  to  favor  the  idea  of  the  world's 
eternity,  is  the  only  science,  as  Dr.  Chalmers  has  splendidly 
shown,  that  can  prove  its  non-eternity. 

These  same  facts,  and  others  that  might  be  named,  demon 
strate  the  occasional  interference  of  the  Deity  with  the  settled 
order  of  nature :  in  other  words,  they  show  us  splendid  mir 
acles  of  creation.  And  thus  is  all  presumption  against  the 
miracles  of  revelation  done  away  ;  and  also  all  objections 
against  special  providence  and  special  answers  to  prayer. 

This  science,  too,  opens  to  us  views  into  the  arcana  of  past 
duration,  as  deep  and  illimitable  as  astronomy  does  into  the 
arcana  of  space  ;  and  there  is  made  to  pass  before  us  a  splen 
did  panorama  of  the  vast  and  varied  plans  of  Jehovah ;  while 
chemical  change  is  disclosed  to  us  as  the  great  conservative 
and  controlling  principle  of  the  universe,  superior  even  to  the 
laws  of  gravitation.  The  unity  of  the  divine  plans  is  also  ex 
hibited  to  us  by  the  records  of  this  science,  on  a  far  wider 
scale  than  the  existing  economy  of  nature  can  show.  And, 
finally,  it  brings  before  us  a  great  number  of  new  and  pecu 
liar  proofs  of  divine  benevolence,  that  throw  new  glory  over 
this  attribute  of  the  Deity ;  derived,  as  they  are,  from  facts 


46  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

heretofore  supposed  to  prove  divine  malevolence,  or  at  least 
vindictive  justice. 

We  have  now  taken  a  glance  at  the  entire  and  vast  circle 
of  human  learning.  And  is  not  every  mind  forced  irresisti 
bly  to  the  conclusion,  that  every  branch  was  originally  linked 
by  a  golden  chain  to  the  throne  of  God,  and  that  the  noblest 
use  to  which  they  can  be  consecrated,  and  for  which  they 
were  destined,  is  to  illustrate  his  perfections  and  to  display 
his  glory  ?  If  so,  let  me  conclude  my  too  protracted  remarks 
by  a  few  inferences. 

In  the  first  place,  what  a  monstrous  perversion  and  misap 
prehension  of  learning  it  is,  to  consider  it  as  hostile  to  religion. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  explain  how  a  Christian,  who  is  very 
ignorant,  and  who  learns  that  literary  men  are  often  sceptical, 
should  distrust  the  influence  of  learning  upon  religion ;  nor 
how  a  mere  smatterer  in  science,  himself  sceptical,  should 
flatter  himself  that  his  great  learning  made  him  so.  But  how 
strange  that  any  talented  and  well-informed  man,  be  he  Chris 
tian  or  infidel,  should  not  see  that  all  science  and  a  large  part 
of  literature  are 

"  But  elder  Scripture  writ  by  God's  own  hand !  " 

It  must  be  the  strongest  prejudice,  or  the  most  decided  ha 
tred  to  religion,  which  can  suppose  that  one  work  of  the  same 
infinitely  perfect  God  should  oppose  another ;  for,  in  fact, 
learning  and  religion  are  only  different  shoots  from  the  same 
parent  stock  ;  and  if  their  fruit  be  of  opposite  qualities,  it 
must  be  because  man  has  grafted  upon  one  or  the  other  the 
apples  of  Sodom.  To  set  learning  against  religion  is  as  un 
natural  as  to  array  brother  against  brother  on  the  field  of 
combat. 

We  see,  secondly,  that  those  engaged  in  directly  promoting 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  47 

religion,  and  those  devoted  to  learning,  ought  to  look  upon 
each  other  as  laboring  in  a  common  cause. 

If  their  labors  are  such  as  they  should  be,  they  will  help 
each  other ;  and,  therefore,  they  ought  to  rejoice  in  each 
other's  success.  For  though  a  new  branch  of  learning  but 
half  understood  may  sometimes  put  on  an  aspect  threatening 
to  religion,  we  need  never  fear  but  the  final  result  will  be  a 
new  support  to  religion  ;  and,  therefore,  the  religious  man 
should  dismiss  all  fears  and  jealousies  in  respect  to  sound 
learning  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  every  increase  of  true 
religion  has  an  auspicious  bearing  upon  the  cause  of  learning. 

We  see,  thirdly,  that  the  preacher  of  the  gospel  may  con 
sistently  devote  himself  to  the  work  of  instructing  the  young 
in  literature  and  science.  For,  in  the  first  place,  he  need  not 
by  such  a  change  necessarily  abandon  the  direct  preaching  of 
the  gospel  occasionally.  In  the  second  place,  by  faithful  in 
struction  in  learning,  he  may  greatly  promote  the  cause  of 
religion,  and  train  up  many,  perhaps,  to  exert  a  still  wider 
influence  in  its  favor.  Finally,  how  much  better  that  such  a 
man  should  use  science  and  literature  legitimately  for  the 
support  of  religion,  than  that  they  should  be  perverted  by  a 
sceptical  teacher  to  undermine  it !  In  spite  of  these  reasons, 
however,  we  are  frequently  told  that  for  a  minister  of  the 
gospel  to  become  a  teacher  of  human  learning,  is  to  abandon 
his  high  calling,  and  forfeit  his  solemn  vows ;  as  indeed  he 
may  do,  by  engaging  in  such  pursuits  from  merely  secular 
motives. 

In  the  fourth  place,  we  see  that  the  more  eminent  a  man  is 
for  learning,  the  more  eminent  he  should  be  for  personal  piety. 
Why,  indeed,  should  not  the  latter  increase  in  his  heart,  as  the 
former  does  in  his  intellect  ?  For  every  new  accession  of 
knowledge  is  but  a  development  of  some  attribute  or  plan  of 


48  THE    HIGHEST   TJSE    OF    LEARNING. 

the  Deity.  The  entire  field  of  human  learning  all  rightfully 
belongs  to  religion,  and  should  be  regarded  by  the  Christian 
scholar  as  consecrated  ground.  The  farther  he  advances  in 
it,  the  more  does  he  see  of  the  Deity ;  and  as  he  returns  from 
communion  with  Nature  in  the  very  holy  of  holies  of  her 
temple,  he  ought,  like  Moses  from  the  holy  mount,  to  show  a 
radiant  glory  on  his  countenance. 

In  the  fifth  place,  what  importance  does  the  subject  give  to 
the  pursuits  of  learning,  and  the  institutions  of  learning ! 

If  knowledge  is  power  in  secular  matters,  it  is  no  less  so  in 
religion.  I  know  that  a  higher  power  is  essential  to  the  suc 
cess  of  the  latter.  But  I  know,  too,  that  religion  without 
learning  almost  infallibly  degenerates  into  fanaticism  or  dead 
formalism  ;  and  indeed,  at  this  day,  true  religion  will  not  flour 
ish  except  in  connection  with  learning ;  and,  therefore,  al 
most  every  denomination  is  now  striving  to  found  and  sustain 
literary  seminaries.  Nor  is  their  importance  yet  duly  esti 
mated,  because  but  few  realize  how  indispensable  is  their 
agency  in  promoting  the  noblest  of  all  objects,  the  salvation 
of  men ;  and,  therefore,  in  our  land  at  least,  with  a  few  ex 
ceptions,  their  foundations  are  too  narrow,  and  the  super 
structure  too  frail. 

In  the  sixth  place,  how  justly  are  those  honored,  and  how 
wide  an  influence  do  they  exert,  who  found  and  endow  liter 
ary  institutions  from  religious  motives  ! 

They  may  be  charged  with  unhallowed  ambition,  by  men 
who  think  only  of  the  secular  influence  of  these  institutions. 
But  he  who  considers  what  is  the  highest  use  of  learning,  and 
how  immense  will  be  the  influence  of  a  well-endowed  semi 
nary  upon  the  cause  of  religion,  cannot  but  look  upon  such 
bequests  as  the  noblest  of  charities  ;  especially  when  he  re 
members  how  much  more  enduring  is  that  influence  than 


THE    HIGHEST    USE  OF    LEARNING.  49 

when  money  is  given  to  most  other  benevolent  objects.  What 
names  stand  higher  on  the  Christian's  roll  of  fame  than  those 
of  Harvard,  and  Yale,  and  Dartmouth,  and  Williams,  and 
Brown  ?  And  through  how  many  coming  centuries  of  our 
country's  history  will  their  example  stimulate  others  to  go 
and  do  likewise  !  By  liberal  bequests  to  literary  institutions 
while  yet  feeble  and  struggling  for  existence,  their  names 
have  become  inseparably  fixed  upon  them,  where  they  will 
remain  long  after  the  pyramids  of  Egypt  shall  be  crumbled 
into  dust.  In  what  other  way  could  they  have  exerted  so  de 
sirable,  extensive,  and  enduring  an  influence  upon  the  world? 

In  the  seventh  place,  what  a  noble  yet  immense  work  lies 
before  Christian  scholars,  viz.,  to  make  all  learning  subser 
vient  to  its  highest  purpose  ! 

Sadly  have  many  branches  been  perverted,  and  strong  is 
still  the  disposition  to  divert  all  learning  from  its  noblest  use, 
To  arrest  this  downward  tendency,  and  to  bring  back  all  lit 
erature  and  all  science  to  the  service  of  religion,  is  an  object 
of  the  highest  ambition,  adapted  to  call  forth  the  strongest 
efforts  of  every  Christian  scholar.  And  let  all  such  take 
courage.  For  religion  is  the  natural  home  of  all  branches 
of  learning ;  and  though  some  of  the  sisterhood  have  been 
seduced  into  the  service  of  sin  and  the  world,  and  have  for 
gotten  their  paternity,  yet  when  reminded  of  their  sacred 
origin,  gladly  will  they  return  to  the  paternal  hearth,  and 
pile  richer  gifts  upon  the  altar,  where  they  presented  their 
earliest  offerings. 

In  the  eighth  place,  we  learn  how  important  it  is  that  every 
literary  institution  should  make  the  promotion  of  religion  the 
leading  object  of  its  system  of  instruction. 

Other  objects  of  subordinate  importance  it  may  and  ought 
to  endeavor  to  accomplish  ;  but  to  make  these  the  chief  things 
5 


50  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

aimed  at,  while  religion  is  thrust  into  the  background,  is  as  if 
a  man  should  build  an  elegant  mansion  for  the  sake  of  im 
proving  the  landscape,  and  with  no  intention  of  living  in  it  ; 
or  as  if  a  community  should  erect  a  church  for  the  sake  of 
holding  town  meetings  and  political  caucuses  in  it,  and  hearing 
lyceum  lectures,  with  no  intention  of  using  it  as  a  place  of 
worship,  except  perhaps  occasionally. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  great  cry  about  excluding  sectarianism 
from  our  literary  institutions,  and  throwing  them  open  to  per 
sons  of  all  religious  opinions.  Now,  in  this  country,  where 
we  have  no  established  church,  it  is  difficult  to  define  a  secta 
rian,  unless  it  be  a  man  who  differs  from  us  in  religious  sen 
timents.  So  that  in  fact,  with  the  exception  of  a  few,  who 
have  no  opinions  or  care  on  this  subject,  we  are  all  sectari 
ans  ;  and  to  exclude  sectarianism  from  a  literary  institution 
is  to  exclude  all  religion  from  it.  And  such  is  usually  the  re 
sult,  when  it  attempts  so  to  trim  its  course  as  to  suit  all  par 
ties.  But  really,  of  all  kinds  of  intolerance,  that  is  the  worst 
which  is  furious  for  toleration,  and  that  the  worst  kind  of 
sectarianism  which  is  fierce  for  irreligion.  The  only  true 
liberal  and  manly  course  for  an  institution  to  adopt,  is,  openly 
to  avow  its  creed,  and  not  to  disguise  its  desire  to  have  all  the 
youth  adopt  it  who  resort  thither ;  while  at  the  same  time  it 
uses  no  other  means  but  argument  and  "example  to  convert 
them,  nor  permits  their  religious  opinions,  whatever  they  may 
be,  to  have  any  influence  in  awarding  literary  honors.  In 
this  respect  the  motto  of  the  ancient  Tyrian  queen  should  be 
adopted  by  every  teacher  :  — 

"  Tros  Tyriusve  nullo  discrimine  mihi  agetur." 

Such  a  course  does,  indeed,  make  the  institution  sectarian , 
that  is,  it  shows  a  preference  for  some  particular  system  of 


THE  HIGHEST  USE  OF  LEARNING. 

\5 ,... 

religion.  But  it  is  an  honest  course,  and  the  only  honest  one 
that  can  be  taken.  For  if  an  institution  professes  to  regard 
all  religious  opinions  with  equal  favor,  who  can  avoid  the  sus 
picion  that  it  is  either  a  stratagem  for  introducing  some  un 
popular  system,  or  that  it  indicates  an  almost  universal  scep 
ticism  on  the  subject?  Indeed,  how  can  a  man,  who  has  any 
just  sense  of  religious  obligation,  consent  to  be  placed  in  cir 
cumstances  where  he  cannot  recommend  openly  those  reli 
gious  views  which  he  deems  essential  to  salvation  ? 

In  the  ninth  place,  we  see  that  a  professorship  of  natural 
theology  is  an  appropriate  one  in  a  college. 

The  main  business  of  such  a  professor  is  to  go  over  the 
same  ground  as  we  have  now  glanced  at,  and  to  trace  out  the 
bearing  of  all  literature  and  all  science  upon  religion.  And 
if  this  be,  indeed,  the  most  important  use  of  learning,  why 
should  it  be  left  unprovided  for  ?  or  depend  upon  the  voluntary 
efforts  of  the  different  instructors,  whose  hands  are  already 
quite  full  ?  I  make  these  remarks,  because  such  a  professor 
ship  is  unusual  in  our  colleges;  and  I  have  feared  that  the 
one  with  which  I  have  been  recently  honored  may  seem  to 
have  been  got  up  for  the  occasion,  to  eke  out  a  deficiency  of 
titles.  But  it  is  not  so  ;  and  it  is  proper  to  say,  that  I  have  in 
fact,  for  the  last  ten  years,  attempted  to  perform  the  duties  of 
such  a  professorship. 

Finally,  to  the  principle  which  I  have  endeavored  to  prove, 
we  owe  the  establishment  of  many  modern  literary  and  sci 
entific  institutions,  and  eminently  of  that  within  whose  walls 
we  are  assembled. 

By  recurring  to  the  history  of  the  origin  of  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  scientific  societies  and  literary  institutions 
of  Europe,  it  will  appear  that  one  of  the  leading  objects 
which  their  illustrious  founders  had  in  view,  was  to  extend  a 


52  THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING. 

knowledge  of  the  Christian  religion,  aloug  with  the  arts  and 
sciences,  to  remote  and  barbarous  nations,  particularly  those 
of  the  south-eastern  Asia.  Among  the  institutions  thus  origi 
nating  were  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  the  French  Acad 
emy,  the  Berlin  Academy,  the  Academia  Naturse  Curiosorum, 
the  University  of  Halle,  and  the  Institutions  of  Franke  at 
Halle  ;  and  among  the  distinguished  men  who  have  labored 
in  this  work  we  find  the  names  of  Boyle,  Montucla,  Leibnitz, 
Wolf,  and  Humboldt.*  I  fear,  indeed,  that  this  object  has 
been  often  lost  sight  of  by  these  institutions  ;  but  their  origin 
furnishes  us  at  least  with  the  testimony  of  most  able  and  com 
petent  witnesses  to  the  truth  of  the  position  which  I  have  now 
vindicated  and  illustrated,  as  to  the  highest  use  of  learning. 

But  to  come  nearer  home  :  we  shall  see  that  this  institution 
originated  in  a  deep  conviction  of  this  same  truth  in  the  minds 
of  those  noble-hearted  men,  who,  in  faith  and  prayer,  laid  the 
foundations  on  which  we  are  called  upon  to  build.  The  very 
first  paragraph  of  the  constitution  of  what  they  then  called  a 
charity  institution  contains  it ;  and  in  the  first  article  it 
is  said,  "  In  contemplating  the  felicitous  state  of  society 
which  is  predicted  in  the  Scriptures  of  truth,  and  the  rapid 
approach  of  such  a  state,  which  the  auspices  of  the  present 
day  clearly  indicate,  and  desiring  to  add  our  feeble  efforts 
to  the  various  exertions  of  the  Christian  community  for 
effecting  so  glorious  an  event,  —  we  have  associated  together 
for  the  express  purpose  of  founding  an  institution  on  the  gen 
uine  principles  of  charity  and  benevolence,  for  the  instruction 
of  youth  in  all  the  branches  of  literature  and  science  usually 
taught  in  colleges."  Here  we  see  no  other  reason  assigned 
for  founding  the  institution  but  a  wish  to  promote  the  cause 
of  religion ;  as  if  no  other  benefits  to  result  from  it  were 

*  Oratio  in  Academia  Fridericiana  Halensi,  &c.  habita  ab.  D.  J.  S.  C. 
Schweigger,  p.  4,  Halle,  1834. 


THE    HIGHEST    USE    OF    LEARNING.  53 

worth  naming.  Let  this  fact  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who 
manage  and  instruct  in  this  college.  God  forbid  that  the 
time  should  ever  come  when  any  instructor  here  shall  be 
ashamed,  or  backward,  to  acknowledge  that  the  advancement 
of  pure  religion  —  even  the  Christian  religion  —  is  the  grand 
object  for  which  he  labors  and  makes  sacrifices.* 

Let  us  never  forget,  that  promotion  cometh  neither  from 
the  east  nor  the  west,  nor  from  the  south.  But  God  is  Judge. 
He  setteth  up  one,  and  putteth  down  another.  How  easy  for 
him  to  blast  the  fairest  schemes,  and  to  prosper  the  weak  and 
the  trembling  !  Nor  let  our  confidence  in  him,  or  in  the 
prosperity  of  this  institution,  be  shaken,  because  it  has  been 
called  to  pass  through  straits,  and  other  conflicts  may  still 
await  it.  We  believe  that  these  storms  in  its  youth  are  in 
tended,  by  a  wise  Providence,  only  to  make  its  roots  strike 
deeper,  and  to  give  its  trunk  greater  strength,  and  its  branches 
wider  extension  in  its  maturity.  Only  let  faith  hold  on  firm 
ly  to  the  principle,  that  God  will  assuredly  crown  with  suc 
cess  every  sincere  effort  to  bind  the  wreath  of  learning  around 
the  brow  of  Religion,  and  cheerfully  and  resolutely  shall  we 
consecrate  ourselves  to  the  great  work  of  sustaining  and  ad 
vancing  this  institution  ;  and  though  we  shall  not  be  allowed 
to  labor  long  here,  or  elsewhere,  yet  while  we  live,  and  when 
we  die,  we  may  confidently  utter  in  behalf  of  its  pupils,  its 
guardians,  and  all  its  future  interests,  the  prayer  of  a  hea 
then,  with  a  Christian  meaning  and  a  Christian  spirit :  — 

"  Dii  probos  mores  docilii  juventae, 
Dii  senectuti  placidae  quietem 
Romulae  genti  date  remque  prolemque 
Et  decus  omne  !  " 

*  Several  pages  relating  to  the  college,  its  discouragements  and  encour 
agements,  are  here  omitted. 
5* 


THE  RELATIONS  AND  MUTUAL  DUTIES  BETWEEN 
THE  PHILOSOPHER  AND  THE  THEOLOGIAN. 


THE  history  of  the  manner  in  which  philosophy  has  been 
treated  by  theologians,  and  theology  by  philosophers,  is  very 
instructive  and  suggestive.  Some  of  the  former  have  taken 
philosophy  into  a  close  and  most  cordial  embrace,  and  allowed 
it  to  modify,  and  even  form  a  part  of  the  foundation  of  their 
whole  system  of  doctrines  ;  and,  as  you  looked  at  the  stately 
pile,  you  could  not  be  certain  whether  the  human  or  the  divine 
had  most  to  do  in  its  erection. 

Another  class  have  been  as  jealous  of  philosophy  as  if  its 
touch  were  infectious,  and  its  infection  death  ;  and  it  would 
seem  as  if  they  took  special  pains  to  make  their  professedly 
biblical  system  of  truth  look  as  distorted  and  angular  as  possi 
ble,  lest  they  should  be  suspected  of  having  used  the  mould 
ing  and  the  dressing  tool  of  reason  to  give  it  form  and  sym 
metry. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  tendency  among  philosophers  has 
been  to  rank  theology  below  the  other  sciences.  Some  of 
them  have  maintained  that  the  two  departments  are  quite  in 
dependent  of  each  other,  and  that  the  question  of  agreement 
between  them  is  one  with  which  they  are  not  concerned. 
Their  business  is  to  discover  the  truths  of  science,  and  to  leave 
theology  to  take  care  of  itself.  Others  admit  the  desirableness 

(54) 


RELATIONS    OF    THE    PHILOSOPHER    AND    THEOLOGIAN.       55 

of  a  reconciliation,  but  are  quite  jealous  of  any  claims,  on  the 
part  of  revelation,  to  superior  authority. 

But  though  thus  diverse  and  conflicting  have  been  the  views 
of  theologians  and  philosophers  respecting  their  mutual  rela 
tions  and  duties,  yet  the  history  of  the  connection  or  opposi 
tion  between  theological  and  philosophical  systems  has  consti 
tuted  no  small  part  of  the  annals  of  the  church.  And  from 
that  history  we  learn  two  things  :  first,  that  there  is  an  im 
portant  connection,  and  consequently  there  are  important 
duties,  between  the  theologian  and  the  philosopher  ;  and 
secondly,  that  these  relations  and  duties  have  been,  and 
still  are,  sadly  misunderstood  or  neglected.  No  code  of 
principles,  defining  those  relations  and  duties,  has  yet  been 
elaborated  ;  and  hence  these  classes  have  often  treated  each 
other  like  the  partisans  in  a  border  warfare  ;  and  prejudice 
and  illiberality  have  been  the  impelling  forces,  rather  than 
Christianity  or  philosophy. 

These  remarks  will  probably  lead  you,  gentlemen  of  the 
society  at  whose  request  I  stand  here  to-day,  and  other  re 
spected  auditors,  to  anticipate  a  discussion  on  the  Relations 
between  the  Theologian  and  Philosopher.  Such  is  my  inten 
tion  ;^or,  to  state  the  subject  more  specifically,  I  propose  to 
enucleate  and  examine  the  principles  which  should  regulate 
the  intercourse  and  feelings  of  these  two  classes  of  society. 

I  employ  the  term  philosophy  in  its  broadest  signification, 
embracing  all  science,  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral.  Yet, 
for  special  reasons,  I  shall  rest  my  eye  chiefly  upon,  and  de 
rive  my  illustration  from,  inductive  or  physical  science.  For, 
in  the  first  place,  circumstances  beyond  my  control,  and  con 
nected  chiefly  with  health,  have  turned  my  attention  main 
ly  to  this  department  of  philosophy ;  secondly,  the  claims  and 
bearings  of  moral  and  intellectual  philosophy,  oftener,  and 


56  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

with  a  power  which  it  would  be  in  vain  for  me  to  aspire  after, 
have  been  brought  before  you.  And  finally  and  especially,  a 
deepening  interest  seems  to  be  gathering  around  physical  sci 
ence,  both  as  a  rich  repository  of  arguments  for,  and  illustra 
tions  of,  religion,  and  a  magazine  of  missiles  to  hurl  against  it. 
In  attempting  to  discuss  such  a  subject,  it  is  gratifying  to 
find  one's  self  addressing  the  members  of  an  institution  where 
the  freest  and  the  fullest  investigation  of  all  truth  is  encour 
aged,  and  where  evidence,  not  authority,  is  the  test  by  which 
every  principle  is  tried  ;  an  institution,  which,  while  it  boldly 
and  honestly  maintains  its  own  views  of  religious  truth,  exer 
cises  the  charity  of  the  gospel  towards  those  who  reject  them, 
and  expects  to  convince  them  only  by  manly  argument.  It  is 
not  flattery,  but  justice  only,  to  say  that  it  is  eminently  by  the 
labors  of  the  distinguished  men  who  have  presided  here,  fol 
lowing  in  the  steps  of  Edwards,  Hopkins,  Bellamy,  and  Em- 
mons,  that  evangelical  Christianity  has  assumed  such  a  shape 
as  to  render  its  reconciliation  with  philosophy  possible.  Mon 
uments  evincing  the  truth  of  this  position  rise  all  around  me. 
The  Nestor  of  biblical  philology  is  not,  indeed,  here  to-day  ; 
but  his  works  are,  and  they  evince  how  much  he  has  done  to 
unfold  the  true  meaning  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  how  fear 
lessly,  yet  impartially,  he  sought  for  the  truth  ;  never  inquir 
ing,  while  engaged  in  his  investigations,  whether  the  results 
would  favor  this  or  that  theological  system,  but  whether  they 
brought  out  the  true  mind  of  the  Spirit.  And  he  well  knew 
that  if  that  could  once  be  surely  ascertained,  it  would  be  found 
in  entire  harmony  with  all  other.  The  Nestor  of  theology  is 
still  here  ;  and  so  are  his  works  ;  especially  the  last  and 
greatest  one,  which  gives  us  results  of  nearly  half  a  century's 
careful  examination  of  systematic  theology.  Those  results, 
presented  in  language  of  such  simplicity  as  only  true  greatness 


THE    PHILOSOPHER    AND    THEOLOGIAN.  57 

and  conscious  strength  know  how  to  use,  and  with  a  calmness 
and  fairness  of  reasoning  which  only  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  subject,  and  a  thorough  conviction  of  its  truth,  could  em 
ploy,  stand  up  before  my  eye,  as  one  of  the  noblest  monu 
ments  which  human  skill  and  piety  can  raise  to  God's  glory 
and  man's  good.  I  mean  not  that  the  work  is  perfect,  nor  that 
keen  criticism,  nor  that  the  large-pupiled  eye  of  prejudice 
and  envy  cannot  find  weak  spots  in  it ;  nor  that  I  should  not 
myself  dissent  from  some  minor  points  defended  in  it.  But 
as  an  American,  and  a  Christian,  I  rejoice,  and  bless  God  that 
the  venerable  author  has  been  spared  to  place  the  top  stone 
on  this  column  of  eternal  truth,  which  I  predict  shall  abide 
fresh  and  strong,  when  the  Washington  Monument  and  the 
Bunker  Hill  column  shall  become  only  crumbling  mounds. 

As  an  American,  and  a  Christian  too,  when  lately  on  a  for 
eign  shore,  it  was  gratifying,  and  I  hope  to  some  better  feel 
ings  than  mere  national  pride,  to  be  able  to  point  to  a  certain 
Bibliotheca,  whose  pages,  each  trimester,  open,  to  the  scholar 
and  the  Christian,  productions  which  combine  philosophy  more 
profound  with  biblical  analysis  more  accurate  than  any  other 
evangelical  periodical  in  the  English  language  with  which  I 
am  acquainted.  Let  this  testimony,  too,  be  regarded  only  as 
an  act  of  justice,  and  not  of  flattery. 

This  allusion  to  the  Bibliotheca  reminds  us  —  as  indeed 
almost  every  thing  else  does  to-day  —  of  another  strong  pillar 
of  this  institution,  whom  Providence  has  recently  smitten 
down.*  Nor  is  it  this  Seminary  alone  that  feels  the  stroke. 
When  such  a  man  falls,  it  brings  a  cloud  over  the  whole  re 
public  of  letters,  and  creates  a  wide  blank,  especially  among 
the  cultivators  of  sacred  literature.  It  will  be  deeply  felt 
even  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  where  his  able  works 

*  Professor  B.  B.  Edwards. 


58  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

have  been  long  known  and  appreciated.  This  is  not  the  place 
to  give  his  life,  or  his  eulogy,  which  has  already  been  done  in 
a  most  satisfactory  manner.  But  there  is  one  trait  of  his 
writings  and  his  character  which  it  is  proper  I  should  notice. 
Though  devoting  himself  chiefly  to  classical  and  biblical  litera 
ture,  yet  his  active  and  scrutinizing  mind  was  not  satisfied  till 
he  had  mastered  the  leading  principles  of  almost  all  branches  of 
learning  ;  and  he  kept  his  eye  open  to  the  progress  of  secular 
as  well  as  sacred  literature  and  philosophy.  His  accurate 
judgment  appreciated  full  well  the  importance  of  bringing  all 
branches  of  human  learning  into  harmony ;  for  he  well  knew 
that  there  can  be  no  real  discrepancy  between  one  kind  of 
truth  and  another.  Hence,  when  philosophy  and  revelation 
were  in  apparent  collision,  he  knew  that  the  one,  or  the  other, 
or  both,  were  not  fully  understood  ;  and  therefore  he  wel 
comed  every  new  ray  of  light  which  literature  and  science, 
history  and  observation,  might  cast  upon  the  Bible,  and  the 
Bible  might  cast  upon  philosophy.  In  a  word,  he  had  those 
enlarged  and  liberal  views,  in  regard  to  the  relations  and 
mutual  duties  of  the  theologian  and  the  philosopher,  which 
made  him,  in  this  respect,  a  model  man.  From  those  narrow 
views  and  prejudices  —  the  odium  theologicum  —  which  too 
often  result  from  exclusive  attention  to  one  department  of 
knowledge,  he  was  remarkably  free.  He  never  substituted 
denunciation  for  argument ;  not  because  he  was  indifferent  to 
the  truth,  but  because  he  had  so  much  confidence  in  its  naked 
power  and  ultimate  triumph.  It.  is  such  men  who  are  wanted 
in  the  ranks  of  theology,  to  command  the  respect  of  philoso 
phers  and  the  confidence  of  Christians.  O  Andover  !  how 
deep  the  wound  inflicted  upon  thee  in  his  removal ! 

"  Hei  mihi  !   quantum 
Presidium,  Ausonia,  et  quantum  tu  perdis,  lule  !  " 


T*HE    PHILOSOPHER    AND    THEOLOGIAN.  59 

But  thanks  be  to  God,  that  he  was  spared  so  long  as  to  be 
able  to  make  an  abiding  impress  here.  Nay,  the  cause  of 
learning,  of  education,  of  religion  throughout  the  land,  shall 
long  feel  the  influence  of  his  labors ;  and  other  lands  shall 
share  in  the  rich  legacy  which  he  has  left. 

And  now,  before  an  audience  trained  by  such  men,  and 
under  the  influence  of  such  principles,  I  feel  confident  that  I 
shall  be  heard  with  candor,  and,  I  hope,  with  sympathy,  while 
I  attempt  to  ascertain  and  enucleate  the  principles  that  should 
form  the  mutual  creed  of  the  theologian  and  the  philosopher. 

The  first  means  which  I  shall  employ  for  determining  this 
platform  of  principles  consists  in  an  appeal  to  reason  and 
Scripture. 

We  need,  however,  as  a  basis  for  our  inquiries,  to  define 
the  limits  and  the  functions  of  philosophy  and  of  theology. 
The  first  searches  out  and  classifies  the  laws  of  nature  ;  the 
second  presents  the  principles  of  religion,  natural  and  re 
vealed,  in  a  scientific  or  systematic  form.  Theology,  there 
fore,  has  a  right  to  employ  whatever  facts  and  reasonings  it 
can  find  in  philosophy,  illustrative  of  religion.  The  principles 
of  reasoning,  too,  are  the  same  as  in  philosophy.  But  it  pos 
sesses,  in  addition,  an  infallible  standard  of  appeal  for  all 
subjects  that  are  above  reason.  The  object  of  philosophy  is 
to  explain  the  phenomena  of  nature,  mental,  moral,  and  mate 
rial  ;  that  of  theology  is  exclusively  to  defend  and  enforce  the 
moral  relations  of  the  universe.  Hence  the  two  subjects  are 
almost  entirely  distinct  in  their  aim.  The  only  point  where 
they  pursue  the  same  track  is  in  the  department  of  moral 
philosophy,  which  has  derived  from  revealed  theology  the 
only  true  foundation  on  which  to  build,  and  that  is,  the 
character  of  man  as  a  fallen  being.  Incidentally,  however, 
the  two  branches  treat  of  the  same  subject ;  as,  for  instance, 


60  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN     • 

the  creation,  the  deluge,  and  the  destruction  of  the  world  and 
its  organic  races.  But  since  revelation  does  not  pretend  to 
teach  science,  nor  even  to  use  language  in  its  strictly  scien 
tific  sense,  we  ought  to  expect,  in  such  cases,  only  that  there 
shall  be  no  real,  although  there  may  be  an  apparent,  discre 
pancy  between  the  two  records. 

Thus  distinct,  in  nature  and  in  function,  are  these  two  great 
departments  of  human  knowledge.  Both  do,  indeed,  connect 
with  the  same  Infinite  Source  of  all  knowledge  ;  but  they  oc 
cupy  separate  and  clearly  defined  provinces,  and  those  at 
work  in  one  field  need  not  encroach  upon,  or  despise  and 
overlook,  those  in  the  other.  Providence  intended  that  they 
should  be  mutual  helps,  and  mutually  deferential.  That  the 
ology  has  a  vast  preeminence,  does  not  justify  an  undervalua 
tion  of  philosophy,  as  if  it  were  of  no  consequence. 

This  course  of  remark  leads  naturally  to  the  attempt  to  lay 
down  as  the  first  article  of  the  mutual  creed  of  the  philosopher 
and  the  theologian,  this  principle  :  That  on  the  question  of 
authority,  while  science  should  receive  all  the  credit  which  its 
various  degrees  of  evidence  deserve,  theology  has  a  higher 
claim  to  any  branch  of  knowledge  not  strictly  demonstrative. 
A  mathematical  demonstration  no  sane  mind  can  resist ;  and 
little  less  certain  are  the  physico-mathematical  sciences.  But 
where  scientific  conclusions  depend  only  upon  probable  evi 
dence,  observation,  and  experiment,  for  example,  there  is 
some  room  for  mistake  and  false  inference.  And  is  it  not 
reasonable  to  maintain  that  theology  has  a  higher  claim  to 
credence  than  the  probabilities  of  any  single  science  ?  For 
the  evidences  of  its  truth,  drawn  from  so  many  sources,  and 
so  diverse,  must  be  considered  as  outweighing  the  evidence  of 
any  single  science  dependent  upon  experiment  or  observation. 
If,  therefore,  a  direct  collision  could  be  made  out  between 


THE    PHILOSOPHER    AND    THEOLOGIAN.  61 

such  a  science  and  religion,  and  we  were  compelled  to  choose 
between  the  two,  theology  must  carry  the  day. 

I  make  this  supposition,  not  because  such  an  alternative 
ever  has  occurred,  or  ever  will  occur,  but  merely  to  show 
what  are  the  relative  claims  to  deference  of  theology  and 
probable  science.  Not  unfrequently,  where  only  an  apparent 
discrepancy  has  manifested  itself  between  revelation  and  some 
yet  imperfect  science,  the  self-confident  sceptic  considers  the 
fate  of  Christianity  as  decided.  But  that  is  only  a  flippant  phi 
losophy  which  will  noti-ank  revealed  truth  above  any  single 
science  founded  upon  probable  evidence.  Not  only  does  the 
ology  stand  above  all  other  sciences  in  the  importance  and 
dignity  of  its  principles,  but  in  the  authority  with  which  it 
speaks  ;  for  it  rests  mainly  on  inspired  testimony. 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  not  a  few  divines  demand  for 
theology,  not  only  superior  authority,  but  will  allow  none  at 
all  to  science,  in  matters  of  religion. 

"  We  have,"  say  they,  "  an  inspired  record,  and  its  declara 
tions  are  not  to  be  set  aside,  or  modified  in  the  least,  by  any 
pretended  discoveries  or  theories  of  blind  and  perverted  hu 
man  reason.  God  has  spoken,  who  cannot  lie,  and  his  Word 
is  to  be  received  implicitly,  whatever  may  become  of  the  sup 
posed  facts  or  conclusions  of  weak  and  ignorant  man." 

Such  reasoning  overlooks  one  important  principle.  All  will 
agree  that  when  we  know  certainly  what  God  has  revealed, 
we  are  to  receive  it  without  modification.  But  he  has  re 
vealed  himself  through  human  language,  and  given  us  no  in 
spired  interpreters.  We  are  to  ascertain  the  meaning  of 
Scripture  essentially  as  we  do  that  of  any  other  writings. 
Accordingly  we  do  not  hesitate  to  resort  to  philosophy  and 
history,  as  guides  in  our  exegesis.  Nor  do  we  refuse  the 
light  that  comes  to  us  from  the  deciphered  hieroglyphics  of 
6 


62  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

Egypt,  and  the  disinterred  relics  of  Nineveh.  Why,  then, 
should  not  the  testimony  of  science  be  employed  to  elucidate 
the  meaning  of  Scripture,  especially  when  it  opens  archives 
a  thousand  times  more  ancient,  and  no  less  distinct,  than  those 
of  Egypt  and  Nineveh  ?  No  reasonable  philosopher  asks  that 
science  should  be  allowed  to  set  aside  or  modify  any  thing 
which  God  hath  spoken,  but  only  that  it  should  be  employed 
to  ascertain  what  he  has  spoken  ;  for  without  the  aid  of  sci 
ence  men  have  sometimes  been  unable  to  understand  aright 
the  language  of  Scripture  —  as  in  the  rising  and  the  setting 
of  the  sun,  and  the  immobility  of  the  earth,  described  in  the 
Bible.  Before  astronomy  had  ascertained  the  earth's  true 
diurnal  and  annual  motions,  the  scriptural  statements  were 
not,  and  could  not  be,  understood  aright.  And  the  same 
may  be  true  in  respect  to  phenomena  dependent  upon  other 
sciences. 

A  second  principle  of  this  creed  —  if  it  be  not  too  obvious, 
and  too  generally  acknowledged,  to  require  a  formal  statement 
—  takes  the  ground,  that  as  a  means  of  moral  reformation  and 
regulation  of  human  affairs  philosophy  has  little  power,  and 
is  not  to  be  brought  into  comparison  with  theology.  Both 
reason  and  experience  have  given  so  many  striking  illustra 
tions  of  this  truth  that  it  seems  strange  any  should  wish  to 
repeat  the  experiment.  But  it  is  done  every  few  years  ;  nay, 
at  all  times  we  find  men  zealous  in  advocating  some  new  phil 
osophic  scheme  for  reforming  and  perfecting  human  society, 
whose  essential  element  is  something  different  from  the  meth 
od  pointed  out  in  the  Bible.  The  new  system  may  have  some 
principle  in  common  with  Christianity  ;  but  the  author  of  it 
relies  rather  on  the  differences  which  he  has  supcradded  than 
on  the  agreement.  Yet  what  multitudes  of  such  schemes,  after 
an  ephemeral  excitement,  become  the  byword  of  the  world, 


THE    PHILOSOPHER    AND    THEOLOGIAN.  63 

and  pass  silently  into  that  oblivious  receptacle  of  things,  "  Abor 
tive,  monstrous,  or  unkindly  mixed,"  described  by  Milton ! 

"  All  these,  upwhirled  aloft, 
Flew  o'er  the  back  side  of  the  world,  far  off, 
Into  a  limbo  large  and  wide,  since  called 
The  Paradise  of  Fools  :  —  to  few  unknown 
Long  after."  — 

A  third  important  principle,  which  reason  teaches  as  appro 
priate  for  this  mutual  creed,  is,  that  entire  harmony  will  be 
the  final  result  of  all  researches  in  philosophy  and  religion. 
It  is  strange  how  any  other  view  of  the  matter  can  be  enter 
tained  by  men  who  profess  to  believe  that  the  God  of  nature 
is  the  God  of  revelation.  For  what  are  nature  and  revela 
tion  but  different  developments  of  one  great  system,  emanat 
ing  from  the  same  infinite  Mind  ?  Yet  not  a  few  theologians 
look  upon  science  as  a  dangerous  ally  of  revelation,  and  main 
tain  that  we  are  not  to  seek  for  harmony  between  them.  "  The 
Bible,"  say  they,  "  was  given  for  our  infallible  guide,  and  it 
is  of  little  consequence  whether  its  teachings  coincide  with 
those  of  philosophy.  The  history  of  the  church  shows  us  that 
the  two  have  always  been  in  collision,  and  it  is  a  dangerous 
enterprise  for  the  religious  man  to  labor  for  their  reconcil 
iation.  Let  him  follow  the  teachings  of  revelation  implicitly, 
nor  suffer  any  of  its  statements  to  be  modified  by  the  pre 
tended  facts  or  theoretical  deductions  of  science." 

Does  this  seem  to  any  to  be  a  caricature  ?  Take,  then,  the 
words  of  a  distinguished  American  divine.  "  We  are  not  a 
little  alarmed,"  says  he,  "  at  the  tendency  of  the  age  to  re 
duce  the  great  facts  narrated  in  the  Bible  to  the  standard  of 
natural  science."  "  Human  science  is  a  changing  and  rest 
less  thing.  It  is  well  that  it  is  so." 


64  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

On  the  other  hand,  not  a  few  scientific  men,  although  pro* 
fessing  respect  for  the  Bible,  and  faith  in  it,  yet  feel  as  if  its 
statements  should  have  no  weight,  even  upon  any  matter  of 
fact  which  comes  under  the  cognizance  of  philosophy.  Sci 
ence,  it  is  thought,  has  its  own  appropriate  evidences,  which 
must  be  admitted,  whatever  else  goes  against  it.  The  Bible 
was  not  given  to  teach  science,  and  therefore  it  was  never 
intended  to  be  authoritative  in  such  matters. 

Now,  if  these  two  classes  of  men  were  to  lay  it  down  as  a 
settled  principle  that  all  science  and  all  religion  are  certain 
ultimately  to  harmonize  throughout,  it  would  remove  this 
mutual  jealousy  and  distrust ;  nor  would  the  parties  be  dis 
posed  to  stand  aloof  from  each  other,  and  to  treat  one  another 
as  enemies.  If  they  are  ultimately  to  be  entirely  one,  then 
they  are  essentially  so  now,  and  all  discrepancy  is  apparent 
only.  Therefore  should  the  philosopher  and  the  theologian 
feel  as  if  they  were  brothers,  whose  business  it  is,  in  mutual 
good  will,  to  elucidate  and  bring  into  harmony  different  por 
tions  of  the  same  eternal  truth. 

Another  article  of  this  mutual  creed  should  be,  that  scien 
tific  men  may  have  the  freest  and  the  fullest  liberty  of  inves 
tigation.  They  have  not  always  had  it.  "  We  remember," 
says  Melville,  "  how,  in  darker  days,  ecclesiastics  set  them 
selves  against  philosophers,  who  were  investigating  the  mo 
tions  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  apprehensive  that  the  new  the 
ories  were  at  variance  with  the  Bible,  and  therefore  resolved 
to  denounce  them  as  heresies,  and  stop  their  spread  by  per 
secution."  Open  persecution  is  unpopular  now  ;  but  I  fear 
that  a  remnant  of  the  same  feelings  still  lingers  in  some  minds. 
They  will  not  say  directly  to  the  scientific  man,  "  Abstain 
from  your  researches,  for  they  seem  to  threaten  injury  to 
religion,"  but  their  fears  of  some  disastrous  influence  make 


THE  PHILOSOPHER  AND  THEOLOGIAN.          65 

them  jealous  of  the  man,  and  fearful  that  his  scientific  con 
clusions  may  lead  himself  and  others  astray  ;  and  hence  they 
withdraw  their  confidence  from  him,  and  thus  take  the  most 
effectual  way  to  alienate  and  make  a  sensitive  mind  sceptical. 
But  how  narrow  are  such  views !  and  how  idle  the  fear  of 
collision  between  science  and  revelation  !  How  much  more 
noble  and  truly  Christian  are  the  sentiments  of  Dr,  Pye  Smith  ! 
"  Only  let  the  investigation  be  sufficient,  and  the  induction 
honest ;  let  observation  take  its  farthest  flight ;  let  experiment 
penetrate  into  all  the  recesses  of  nature  ;  let  the  veil  of  ages 
be  lifted  up  from  all  that  has  hitherto  been  unknown,  if  such  a 
course  were  possible  —  religion  need  not  fear  ;  Christianity  is 
secure,  and  true  science  will  always  pay  homage  to  the  divine 
Creator  and  Sovereign,  of  whom,  and  through  whom,  and  to 
whom,  are  all  things,  and  unto  whom  be  glory  forever^ 

The  difference  in  the  character  of  the  language  of  science 
and  that  frequently  employed  in  religion  suggests  a  fifth  article 
of  the  supposed  platform.  Different  principles  of  interpreta 
tion,  to  some  extent,  are  demanded  in  the  two  departments. 
True  science  employs  terms  that  are  precise,  definite,  literal, 
with  scarcely  more  than  one  meaning,  and  adapted  only  to 
cultivated  minds.  Religion,  especially  the  Bible,  makes  use 
of  language  that  is  indefinite,  loose,  and  multiform  in  signifi 
cation,  often  highly  figurative,  and  adapted,  not  only  to  the 
popular  mind,  but  to  men  in  an  early  and  rude  state  of  soci 
ety.  Science,  for  instance,  could  not,  as  the  Bible  can  and 
does,  represent  the  work  of  creation  in  one  chapter  as  occu 
pying  six  days,  and  in  the  next  chapter  as  completed  in  one 
day.  It  could  not,  like  the  Bible,  speak  of  the  sun's  rising 
and  setting,  and  of  the  earth's  immobility.  Meteorology  could 
not  describe  the  concave  above  our  heads  as  a  solid  expanse, 
having  windows  or  openings  for  the  rain  to  pass  from  the 


66  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

clouds  beyond.  Nor  could  physiology  represent  the  bones  to 
be  the  seat  of  pain,  or  psychology  refer  intellectual  operations 
to  the  region  of  the  kidneys.  Neither  could  systematic  the 
ology  in  one  place  represent  God  as  having  repented  that  he 
had  made  man,  and  in  another  exhibit  him  as  without  vari 
ableness  or  shadow  of  turning.  But  all  this  can  the  Bible  do 
in  perfect  consistency  with  its  infallible  inspiration,  because  it 
was  the  language  of  common  life  ;  and  common  sense  can 
interpret  it,  so  that  every  suspicion  of  self-contradiction  shall 
vanish.  Indeed,  had  its  language  been  strictly  scientific,  it 
might  have  formed  a  good  text  book  in  philosophy,  but  it 
would  have  been  a  poor  guide  to  salvation.  Yet  the  attempt 
to  force  the  language  of  the  Bible  into  the  strait  jacket  of 
science  has  been  prolific  of  mistakes  and  errors. 

Another  principle,  which  maintains  that  the  Bible  has  an 
ticipated  some  scientific  discoveries,  should  be  settled  and 
form  a  part  of  this  mutual  creed.  In  my  view  it  should  be 
settled  in  the  negative.  For  if  we  admit  that  one  modern 
discovery  can  be  found  in  the  Bible,  how  can  we  vindicate 
that  book  in  those  numerous  cases  where  it  speaks  of  natural 
phenomena  in  accordance  with  the  monstrously  absurd  no 
tions  which  prevailed  among  those  to  whom  it  was  originally 
addressed  ?  If  it  describes  the  science  of  the  nineteenth  cen 
tury  in  one  instance,  why  not  in  all  ?  But  admit  that  it  was 
foreign  to  the  object  of  revelation  to  teach  science,  and  we 
can  see  why  its  descriptions  of  natural  things  accord  with 
optical,  but  not  physical,  truth  ;  and,  then,  there  is  no  diffi 
culty  in  enucleating  the  true  meaning  of  the  sacred  writers. 
Interpreted  by  such  a  principle,  we  should  not  conclude  that 
Job  meant  to  reveal  the  Copernican  system  because  he  speaks 
of  the  earth  as  hanging  upon  nothing ;  especially  as  in  an 
other  place  he  refers  to  the  pillars  on  which  the  earth  rests. 


THE  PHILOSOPHER  AND  THEOLOGIAN.          67 

But  both  phrases  are  quite  natural  and  proper  for  one  of  the 
most  allegorical  hooks  of  the  Bible  when  regarded  as  vivid 
poetical  images.    The  grand  distinction  between  the  Bible  and  N 
all  other  professed  revelations  is,  not  that  it  has  anticipated 
scientific  discoveries,  but  that  there  is  nothing  in  its  statements 
which  those  discoveries  contradict  or  invalidate.     Often  has 
the  sceptic  announced  such  discrepancies;  but,  in  the  end,         \ 
the  Bible  has  always  been  shown  consistent  with  itself  and 
with  science.     Now,  this  is  true  of  no  other  professedly  in-  \ 
spired  books.     The  Koran  and  the  Vedas  are  often  in  direct 
collision  with  astronomy,  geology,  anatomy,  and  physiology ; 
and  when  you  have  proved  them  false  in  science  you  have    j 
destroyed  their  authority  in  religion.     Proudly  above  them  all 
stands  the  Bible  ;  and  so  long  as  it  can  maintain  this  position 
we  may  be  sure  of  its  divine  original ;  for  any  mere  human 
production,  embracing  so  many  authors,  and  reaching  through 
so  many  thousands  of  years  in  its  history,  .could   not  have 
avoided  collision  with  scientific  truth. 

Once  more  :  theologians  and  philosophers  should  mutually 
require  that  those  who  undertake  to  pronounce  judgment 
upon  points  of  connection  between  science  and  religion  should 
be  well  acquainted  with  both  sides  of  the  question.  I  do  not 
say  equally  well  acquainted  ;  for  so  limited  are  the  human 
Faculties  that  he  who  is  eminent  in  one  department  of  knowl 
edge  can  hardly  be  expected  to  be  equally  familiar  with  an 
other.  But  a  respectable  knowledge  of  any  subject  is  essen 
tial  to  decide  upon  its  relations  to  other  subjects.  And 
it  ought  to  be  a  settled  principle,  that  an  opinion  upon  any 
point  of  science  or  religion  is  entitled  to  no  respect  if  it  can 
be  shown  that  the  man  does  not  understand  the  subject  upon 
which  he  writes.  For  eminence  in  one  department  of  knowl 
edge  gives  a  man  no  claims  to  credence  in  another  which  he 


68  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

has  never  studied.  A  man,  for  instance,  may  be  most  dis 
tinguished  in  science,  so  that  his  word  is  law ;  and  yet,  never 
having  given  his  attention  to  theology,  he  is  utterly  unfit  to 
judge  of  the  bearings  of  scientific  facts  or  theories  upon  re 
ligion.  We  listen  with  great  respect  to  the  opinions  of  an 
eminent  divine  upon  those  theological  principles  to  which  he 
has  devoted  so  much  thought  and  study.  But  if  he  undertakes 
to  dogmatize  upon  matters  of  science,  when  his  very  language 
shows  him  quite  ignorant  of  its  principles,  and  swayed  by 
prejudice,  what  claim  can  his  opinions  have  to  our  reception 
or  respect  ? 

The  distinguished  Scotch  divine,  who  uses  the  following  lan 
guage  respecting  geology  and  geologists,  no  doubt  supposed 
himself  doing  an  important  service  to  religion  by  his  denunci 
ations.  "  Geology,"  says  he,  "  as  sometimes  conducted,  is  a 
monument  of  human  presumption,  which  would  be  truly  ri 
diculous  were  it  not  offensive  by  its  impiety."  "  Thus  puny 
mortals,  [geologists,]  with  a  spark  of  intellect  and  a  moment 
for  observation,  during  which  they  take  a  hasty  glance  of  a 
few  superficial  appearances,  dream  themselves  authorized  to 
give  the  lie  to  Him  who  made  and  fashioned  them,  and  every 
thing  which  they  see."  The  same  may  be  said  of  another 
eminent  divine,  who  applies  similar  remarks  to  the  whole  of 
physical  science.  "  The  third  fact,"  says  he,  "  here  revealed, 
[in  Genesis,]  is,  that  this  world  was  created  in  six  days. 
Here,  again,  the  Scriptures  are  at  issue  with  science.  Mod 
ern  geologists  tell  us  that  this  is  not  possible  ;  and  all  we  need 
reply  to  the  bold  assertion  is,  with  men  this  is  impossible,  but 
with  God  all  things  are  possible."  "  Natural  science  is  con 
fessedly  progressive,  and,  therefore,  comparatively  crude. 
Geology  is  in  its  infancy." —  Spring. 

Now,  whatever  effect  such  language  may  have  upon  persons 


THE    PHILOSOPHER    AND    THEOLOGIAN.  69 

who  have  given  no  attention  to  science,  what  but  a  bad  influ 
ence  can  it  have  upon  the  naturalist,  who  sees,  on  the  very 
pages  from  which  I  have  quoted,  the  most  decisive  evidence 
that  the  writers  do  not  understand  the  subject  ?  not  from  want 
of  ability,  but  because  other  studies  have  engaged  their  at 
tention.  Suppose  that,  in  reading  a  commentary  on  Job,  the 
writer  had  inadvertently  disclosed  the  fact,  that  he  knew  noth 
ing  of  the  Hebrew  grammar,  nor  even  of  the  Hebrew  alpha 
bet.  From  that  moment  his  criticisms,  however  much  of 
talent  they  might  discover,  would  be  regarded  with  indiffer 
ence,  if  not  with  pity  or  contempt,  by  the  Christian  and  the 
scholar. 

It  would  be  easy  to  quote  examples  of  an  analogous  char 
acter  from  the  philosophers.  I  might  refer  to  the  extraordi 
nary  and  even  ridiculous  exegetical  principles  adopted  by  the 
physico-theologists  of  the  last  century  to  prove  their  favorite 
dogma,  that  the  principles  of  physical  science  are  all  to  be 
found  in  the  Bible,  as  given  by  Catcott  in  his  work  on  the 
Deluge,  and  by  Hutchinson  in  his  twelve  volumes  entitled 
"  Moses's  Principia."  But  more  appropriately  may  I  refer  to 
a  writer  of  our  own  times,  eminent  enough  in  science  to  be 
selected  to  write  one  of  the  Bridgewater  Treatises.  In  his 
interpretation  of  the  phrase  "  windows  of  heaven,"  in  Gene 
sis,  Mr.  Kirby  makes  it  mean  "  cracks  and  volcanic  vents  in 
the  earth,  through  which  water  and  air  rushed  inwardly  and 
outwardly  with  such  violence  as  to  tear  the  crust  to  pieces." 

I  quote  another  example  from  a  naturalist  and  philosopher 
still  more  eminent,  not  because  it  has  the  dreamy  character 
of  that  just  given,  but  because  I  know  how  the  following  pas 
sage  has  struck  some  of  the  most  distinguished  and  liberal 
Hebrew  and  biblical  scholars  in  our  land.  While  they  sat 
gladly  at  the  feet  of  this  author  in  all  matters  of  physical 


70  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

science,  they  regretted  that  the  same  discrimination  and  long 
study  had  not  been  given  to  the  science  of  biblical  interpreta 
tion  before  an  exegesis  of  Genesis  had  been  thrown  out  so 
confidently,  which  is  contrary  to  the  obvious  sense  and  to  the 
almost  universal  opinion  of  biblical  writers.  I  speak  not  here 
of  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  theory  of  this  distinguished 
man,  whose  writings  exhibit  so  much  of  the  true  spirit  of  re 
ligion,  and  who  takes  so  noble  a  stand  against  the  flippant 
scepticism  of  sciolists,  but  refer  simply  to  this  particular  exe 
gesis  of  Genesis. 

"  The  advocates  of  identity  of  origin  for  all  the  several 
races  of  men,  as  springing  from  only  one  primitive  pair," 
says  Professor  Agassiz,  "  have  no  argument  to  urge  in  sup 
port  of  that  position,  but  simply  a  vulgar  prejudice,  based  on 
some  few  obscure  passages  of  the  Bible,  which  may  after  all 
be  capable  of  a  different  interpretation."  "  To  suppose  that 
all  men  originated  from  Adam  and  Eve,  is  to  give  to  the  Mo 
saic  record  a  meaning  that  it  was  never  intended  to  have." 

It  is  very  probable  that  some  may  be  ready  to  apply  to  me 
personally  the  exhortation,  Physician,  heal  thyself.  For  some 
do  regard  me  as  having  violated  the  rule  which  I  am  urging 
upon  others,  by  advancing  interpretations  of  Scripture  which 
no  sound  biblical  scholar  can  admit.  On  two  points  espe 
cially  has  this  charge  been  made.  I  have  advocated  that  ex 
egesis  of  Genesis  which  permits  the  intercalation  of  a  long 
and  indefinite  period  between  the  beginning  and  the  first  dem 
iurgic  day ;  and,  also,  that  exegesis  of  Peter,  which  makes 
him  teach  that  this  earth  and  its  atmosphere,  after  being 
burned  up  and  renovated,  will  become  the  new  heavens  and 
the  new  earth. 

Now,  were  these  interpretations  original  with  myself,  and 
now  first  proposed  in  opposition  to  the  whole  array  of  biblical 


THE    PHILOSOPHER    AND    THEOLOGIAN.  71 

critics,  I  might  well  confess  myself  guilty,  and  conclude  that 
my  zeal  to  sustain  a  favorite  theory  had  blinded  my  judgment. 
But  in  fact,  these  views,  both  of-  Genesis  and  of  Peter,  have 
been  advocated  by  the  early  fathers  of  the  church,  and  by  a 
large  number  of  the  ablest  modern  interpreters  and  divines. 
As  to  the  meaning  of  Peter,  Dr.  Griffin  says,  that  the  view 
above  referred  to  "  has  been  the  more  common  opinion  of  the 
Christian  fathers,  of  the  divines  of  the  reformation,  and  of  the 
critics  and  annotators  who  have  since  flourished."  I  must 
disclaim,  therefore,  both  the  honor  and  the  odium  of  these 
views,  and  say,  that  if  I  am  wrong  in  their  advocacy,  it  is  be 
cause  I  have  been  led  astray  by  such  men  as  Augustine,  The- 
odoret,  Justin  Martyr,  Origen,  Luther,  the  elder  Rosenmuller, 
Tholuck,  Dathe,  Pye  Smith,  Patrick,  Chalmers,  Knapp,  and 
Griffin. 

Finally,  it  ought  to  be  a  position  admitted  by  the  philoso 
pher  and  the  theologian,  that  the  facts  and  principles  of  sci 
ence,  brought  before  an  unsophisticated  mind,  are  favorable 
to  piety.  A  contrary  impression  prevails  extensively;  just 
because  not  a  few  scientific  men,  in  spite  of  science,  and  not 
through  its  influence,  have  been  sceptics.  Their  hearts  were 
wrong  when  they  began  the  study ;  and  then,  according  to  a 
general  law  of  human  nature,  the  purest  truth  became  only  a 
means  of  increasing  their  perversity.  But  had  their  hearts 
been  right  at  first,  that  same  truth  would  have  nourished  and 
strengthened  their  faith  and  love.  Why  should  it  not  be  so  ? 
For  what  is  true  science  but  an  exhibition  of  God's  plans  and 
operations  ?  And  will  any  one  maintain  that  a  survey  of  what 
God  has  planned  and  is  executing  should  have  an  unfavora 
ble  moral  effect  upon  an  unperverted  and  unprejudiced  mind  ? 
If  it  does,  it  must  be  through  the  influence  of  extraneous 
causes,  such  as  pride,  prejudice,  bad  education,  or  bad  hab- 


72  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

its,  for  which  science  is  not  accountable.  O,  no !  the  temple 
of  Nature  is  a  holy  place  for  a  holy  heart.  Pure  fire  is  al 
ways  burning  upon  its  altar,  and  its  harmonies  are  ever  hymn 
ing  the  praises  of  its  great  Architect,  inviting  all  who  enter  to 
join  the  chorus.  It  needs  a  perverse  and  hardened  heart  to 
resist  the  good  influences  that  emanate  from  its  shrines. 

A  consideration  of  the  mutual  interest  of  the  theologian 
and  the  philosopher  constitutes  a  second  means  for  determin 
ing  the  principles  by  which  their  feelings  and  intercourse 
should  be  regulated. 

It  hardly  needs  a  formal  argument  to  show,  that  it  is  for 
the  interest  of  both  to  bring  revelation  and  science  into  entire 
harmony.  The  established  and  intelligent  Christian  will  not, 
indeed,  be  greatly  disturbed  because  an  alleged  scientific  dis 
covery  is  said  to  come  into  collision  with  the  Bible.  But  there 
are  others,  predisposed  to  believe  revelation,  who  will  gladly 
seize  upon  such  examples  to  fortify  themselves  in  scepticism. 
Religion,  therefore,  suffers  by  merely  apparent  incongruity 
between  science  and  revelation.  Nor  can  it  be  a  matter  of 
indifference  to  philosophers,  to  be  looked  upon  as  throwing 
doubt  upon  man's  highest  hopes  and  interests,  by  those  who 
defend  these  interests,  and  who  have  taken  a  most  important 
part  in  time  past  in  advancing  science.  Suspicion  and  alien 
ated  feeling  between  these  classes  operate  most  disastrously 
upon  both  ;  and,  therefore,  mutual  interest  demands  their  unit 
ed  efforts  to  remove  apparent  discrepancies. 

A  second  consideration  of  importance,  in  this  connection,  is, 
that  science  is  the  great  storehouse  of  facts  on  which  is  based 
the  whole  system  of  natural  religion.  And  when  we  recol 
lect  that  natural  religion  does  not  stop  with  the  mere  demon 
stration  of  the  being  and  attributes  of  the  Deity,  but  estab 
lishes  his  natural  and  moral  government  over  the  world, 


THE  PHILOSOPHER  AND  THEOLOGIAN.          73 

and  man's  correspondent  obligations,  —  also  his  common,  spe 
cial  and  miraculous  providence,  and  the  doctrine  of  his  pur 
poses  or  decrees,  —  we  see  how  important  is  this  use  of  science. 
At  this  day,  indeed,  how  can  the  theologian  dispense  with  its 
facts  in  their  religious  applications  ?  Let  the  works  of  Ray, 
Dcrham,  Wollaston,  Paley,  Crombie,  Brown,  Chalmers,  and 
the  other  authors  of  the  Bridge  water  Treatises,  testify  to  their 
importance.  For  though  the  divine  may  stand  firm  upon  the 
evidence  of  history,  prophecy,  and  internal  character  to  sus 
tain  the  Bible,  yet  if  he  can  show  that  its  truths  are  in  agree 
ment  with  nature,  and  are  even  sustained  and  illustrated  by 
it,  his  appeal,  in  this  thinking  and  reasoning  age,  will  come 
home  with  much  more  convincing  power.  He  cannot  dis 
pense  with  the  facts  of  science  and  yet  be  a  workman  that 
needeth  not  to  be  ashamed. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  philosopher  should  not  forget  that 
the  religious  applications  of  science  are  its  most  important 
use.  When  he  thinks  what  knowledge  has  done  in  elevating 
and  civilizing  society,  and  in  multiplying  the  comforts  and 
luxuries  of  life,  he  is  apt  to  forget  its  religious  bearings.  But 
these,  in  fact,  transcend  in  importance  its  worldly  influences, 
as  much  as  eternity  transcends  time.  And  most  sadly  does 
he  degrade  science  who  overlooks  its  religious  applications. 
These  form  the  ground  of  its  truest  dignity,  and  they  alone 
link  it  to  the  permanently  grand  and  the  eternal. 

But  philosophy  may  also  be  employed  in  defending  and 
illustrating  revealed  truth.  Of  this  we  have  a  splendid  exam 
ple  in  the  "  Analogy  "  of  Bishop  Butler,  whose  grand  princi 
ple  has  been  applied  successfully  by  Barnes  to  nearly  all  the 
peculiar  doctrines  of  revelation.  Of  all  efforts  to  meet  scep 
tical  objections  to  evangelical  Christianity,  this  is  the  most 
thorough  and  complete  ;  and  were  this  work  more  carefully 
7 


74  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

studied,  along  with  such  authors  as  Chalmers,  Harris,  Whewell, 
Sedgvvick,  Isaac  Taylor,  and  McCosh,  who  extend  and  illus 
trate  analogous  principles,  the  flippant  and  superficial  sci 
olism  of  the  day,  that  would  metamorphose  the  Deity  into 
natural  law,  would  find  little  favor. 

Nor  are  these  religious  applications  of  philosophy  confined 
to  the  older  and  more  mathematical  sciences.  Nay,  those 
more  recent,  and  dependent  mainly  upon  experiment  and  ob 
servation,  when  rightly  understood,  are  remarkably  prolific  of 
religious  illustrations.  Chemistry  and  physiology,  for  exam 
ple,  throw  much  light  upon  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  body,  and  vindicate  it  against  objections  otherwise  un 
answerable.  The  former  science,  also,  points  us  to  the  true 
meaning  of  those  scriptures  that  describe  the  destruction  of 
the  world  by  fire  ;  showing  us  that  it  is  change  of  form  in  the 
matter  of  the  globe,  but  not  its  annihilation.  Meteorology 
teaches  us  how  to  understand  the  language  of  Scripture  re 
specting  the  firmament  above  us.  And  geology,  especially, 
lends  confirmation  to  the  biblical  history  of  man's  creation  as 
a  comparatively  recent  event ;  it  shows  us  how  we  should 
understand  the  scriptural  cosmogony,  points  out  a  new  argu 
ment  for  the  divine  existence,  and  lends  such  decisive  cor- 
roboration  to  the  revealed  doctrines  of  special  and  miraculous 
providence,  and  divine  benevolence,  that  these  truths  could 
not  consistently  be  excluded  from  the  creed  of  philosophy, 
though  the  testimony  of  the  Bible  were  lost. 

Surely,  then,  the  interests  of  theology  demand  that  the  reli 
gious  applications  of  science  should  not  be  overlooked  ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  science  should  count  it  the  highest  honor 
to  be  able  to  throw  even  a  ray  of  light  upon  God's  written 
word. 

I  venture  here  to  suggest  another  use  to  which  science  may 


/r  \^      Li 


THE    PHILOSOPHER   AND    THEOLOGIAN^  '75 

be  apj)lied  by  the  theologian.  It  is  well  known  that  sharp 
discussions  not  un frequently  occur  respecting  the  meaning 
of  the  language  of  the  ablest  divines  after  their  decease  ;  and 
they  are  charged  with  teaching  contradictory  principles.  It 
is  well  known,  also,  how  great  complaint  is  often  made,  by 
controversial  writers,  of  the  misunderstanding  of  their  views 
by  their  opponents.  But  how  seldom  do  discussions  of  thifl 
sort  occur  respecting  the  meaning  of  eminent  mathematicians, 
natural  philosophers,  and  naturalists  !  Nor  does  this  result 
from  entire  unity  of  views,  and  the  certainty  of  every  princi 
ple  discussed  in  these  sciences.  But  it  springs  mainly  from 
the  definiteness  and  precision  of  the  language  which  is  em 
ployed.  Take  botany  or  chemistry,  for  example  :  how  can 
men  be  in  doubt  about  the  meaning  of  a  sentence,  when  al 
most  every  word  in  it  has  a  settled  and  usually  a  single  sense  ? 
1  do  not  suppose  that  equal  precision  could  be  introduced  into 
theology,  because  it  treats  of  natures  more  subtile  than  those 
of  physical  science.  But  I  suggest  whether  divines,  in  the 
definition  of  their  terms,  might  not  advantageously  consult 
the  directness,  singleness,  and  precision  of  physical  science 
more,  and  the  wariness,  subtilty,  and  equivocal  senses  of  met 
aphysics  less.  I  fancy  that  in  the  style  of  Dr.  Chalmers, 
which,  although  sometimes  too  stately,  is  always  clear,  we 
have  an  example  of  this  improved  phraseology.  I  doubt 
whether  posterity  will  hesitate  much  as  to  the  meaning  of  his 
writings  ;  and  perhaps  the  unsanctified  ambition  of  the  earlier 
periods  of  his  ministry,  which  led  him  to  Devote  so  much  time 
to  mathematics,  chemistry,  and  natural  history,  will  be  thus 
overruled  to  the  benefit  of  theology. 

Every  true  philosopher,  no  less  than  the  religious  man, 
should  be  desirous  that  his  pursuits  may  accomplish  the  most 
possible  for  the  good  of  society ;  for  benevolence  is  a  duty  of 


76  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

natural  as  well  as  revealed  religion.  Now,  the  cultivation  of 
science  alone,  in  a  community  where  atheism  or  infidelity 
predominates,  is  most  likely  to  prove  a  great  curse.  Knowl 
edge  pufleth  up ;  and  hence  mere  scientific  acquisitions  tend 
to  foster  pride,  selfishness,  and  inordinate  amhition,  and  to 
exalt  the  brilliant  few  at  the  expense  of  the  degraded  many. 
The  result  will  be,  that  the  most  furious  passions  of  our  nature 
wilt  exhibit  their  deadliest  malignity  in  a  community  where 
science  is  cultivated,  but  spurns  the  aid  of  religion. 

What  a  terrible  illustration  of  this  truth  has  been  exhibited 
during  the  last  century  in  the  centre  of  European  civilization  ! 
Never  did  France  show  more  of  brilliant  scientific  skill  than 
during  the  savage  days  of  her  first  revolution ;  and  her  whole 
subsequent  history  teaches  us  how  dangerous  it  is  to  commit 
the  power  which  science  bestows  into  irreligious  hands.  The 
meteoric  explosion  which  was  the  result,  not  only  rent  that 
unhappy  country  to  atoms,  but  sent  its  iron  fragments  into 
every  European  land  ;  and  the  death  groan  that  followed  has 
hardly  yet  died  upon  our  ears.  It  was  a  dear-bought  yet  im 
pressive  lesson  of  the  danger  of  committing  scientific  power 
into  the  hands  of  irreligion  ;  and  it  should  lead  the  philos 
opher  to  feel  the  necessity  of  spiritual  influence  to  control  the 
energies  of  science.  Truly,  as  Coleridge  remarks,  "  all  the 
products  of  the  mere  understanding  partake  of  death ; "  and 
as  Lord  Bacon  still  more  appropriately  observes,  "  in  knowl 
edge,  without  love,  there  is  ever  something  of  malignity." 

But  there  is  another  important  fact  on  this  subject.  The 
general  diffusion  of  scientific  knowledge  through  a  community 
can  never  take  place  without  the  aid  of  Christianity.  There 
may  be  an  aristocracy  of  learning,  as  in  the  case  just  quoted, 
but  religion  alone  will  provide  for  general  education.  Left  to 
the  influence  of  any  other  principle,  the  favored  and  enlight- 


THE    PHILOSOPHER    AND    THEOLOGIAN.  77 

ened  few  will  keep  down  and  oppress  the  ignorant  masses. 
Popular  education  is  found  only  m  connection  with  revelation. 
So  says  the  history  of  the  world  ;  and  an  analysis  of  human 
nature  shows  us  that  it  must  be  so.  Hence  every  philosopher 
who  is  a  friend  to  his  species  will  feel  it  his  duty  to  promote 
the  diffusion  of  Christianity  as  well  as  of  science.  Thus  only 
can  the  greatest  good  be  secured  to  the  whole. 

The  third  means  of  ascertaining  and  settling  the  principles 
that  should  regulate  the  intercourse  and  feelings  of  the  the 
ologian  and  philosopher  is  by  an  appeal  to  history  and  obser 
vation. 

We  thus  learn  the  results  of  many  well-tried  experiments 
on  this  subject ;  and  these  should  have  all  the  force  of  law, 
and  be  incorporated  into  the  code  of  mutually  obligatory 
principles.  They  are  more  certain  than  the  a  priori  de 
ductions  already  considered,  and  I  could  wish  that  my  space 
would  allow  a  fuller  enumeration  of  what  has  thus  been 
taught. 

One  of  the  principles  thus  developed  is  the  danger  of  exalt 
ing  philosophy  above  revelation.  Unhappily,  we  can  hardly 
glance  at  a  page  of  ecclesiastical  history  without  finding  in 
structive  examples.  Perhaps  the  Platonizing  tendencies  of 
the  Christian  fathers  for  many  centuries  are  the  most  striking 
illustration  in  former  times.  It  is  hardly  strange  that  those 
who  came  out  of  the  schools  of  philosophy  into  the  school  of 
Christ  should  be  gratified  to  find,  and  be  ready  to  suppose 
they  could  find,  a  correspondence  between  the  doctrines  of 
their  old  and  new  masters.  And  how  natural,  in  such  a  case, 
to  accommodate  the  principles  of  the  new  leader  to  those  of 
the  old  one  ;  or  rather  to  exalt  the  teachings  of  the  first  above 
those  of  the  last.  Thus  did  the  fathers  ;  and  though  Platonism 
was  again  and  again  driven  out  of  the  church,  again  and  again 
7* 


78  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

was  it  brought  back  —  demanding  from  time  to  time  a  new 
exorcism. 

But  though  this  incubus  rested  on  the  church  for  so  many 
centuries,  and  often  well  nigh  stopped  its  breath,  modern 
divines  seem  to  have  gained  little  wisdom  by  the  severe  les 
son.  Plato  and  Aristotle,  indeed,  no  longer  vex  the  church 
by  name.  But  their  spirit,  like  the  exorcised  demon  of  old, 
walking  through  dry  places,  and  seeking  rest  in  vain,  has 
commissioned  seven  other  spirits  to  return  into  the  sacred 
enclosure,  not  merely  to  modify  Christianity,  but  to  expel  it. 
Hence,  in  modern  theological  literature,  we  have  profound 
works  on  the  gospel,  whose  object  is  to  prove  the  gospel  a 
fable  ;  treatises  on  dogmatics,  without  any  doctrines ;  and 
lives  of  Christ,  from  which  Christ  is  excluded.  Instead  of 
one  or  two  leaders,  as  of  old,  we  now  have  scores.  Having 
the  shoulders  of  those  old  giants,  Plato  and  Aristotle,  to  stand 
upon  and  start  from,  it  is  only  necessary  to  be  provided  with 
a  huge  pair  of  transcendental  wings  to  seem  very  large  to  a 
wondering  world,  as  they  soar  away  into  the  mysterious  ether, 
into  which  those  old  giants  found  it  difficult  to  rise,  because 
the  clogs  of  common  sense  hung  so  heavily  upon  them. 

Justice  requires  me  to  add,  in  this  connection,  that  the  phi 
losophy  which  has  thus  been  exalted  above  revelation  so  often 
and  so  disastrously  is  not  that  of  induction,  but  of  abstrac 
tion  ;  not  that  of  Bacon,  and  Newton,  and  Whewell,  but  that 
of  Hobbes,  and  Hume,  and  Diderot.  I  know  that  there 
always  has  been,  and  still  is,  a  strong  jealousy  of  physical 
science,  as  if  it  were  hostile  to  religion ;  but  where  is  the 
evidence  of  such  hostility  ?  What  philosopher  of  the  Ba 
conian  school  has  ever  erected  within  the  church  a  tower  that 
overlooked  and  overawed  Christianity  itself,  and  made  it  a 
resort  for  those  too  proud  to  submit  to  revealed  truth  ?  But 


THE    PHILOSOPHER   AND    THEOLOGIAN.  79 

how  often  has  the  deductive  philosophy  done  this  !  Divines 
seem  prone  to  forget  the  distinction  drawn  with  such  a  vig 
orous  hand  by  Isaac  Taylor.  "  The  entire  mass  of  intel 
lectual  and  theological  philosophy,"  says  he,  "  divides  itself 
into  two  classes  —  the  one  irreconcilably  opposed  to  the  other. 
The  first  is,  in  its  spirit  and  in  all  its  doctrines,  consentaneous 
with  human  feelings  and  interests.  The  second  is,  both  as  a 
whole  and  in  its  several  parts,  paradoxical.  The  first  is  the 
philosophy  of  modesty,  of  inquiry,  of  induction,  and  of  belief. 
The  second  is  the  philosophy  of  abstraction,  as  opposed  to 
induction ;  and  of  impudence,  as  opposed  to  a  respectful 
attention  to  nature  and  to  evidence.  The  first  takes  natural 
and  mathematical  science  by  the  hand  ;  observes  the  same 
methods,  labors  to  promote  the  same  ends,  and  the  systems 
are  never  at  variance.  The  second  stands,  ruffian-like,  upon 
the  road  of  knowledge,  and  denies  progress  to  the  human 
mind.  The  first  shows  an  interminable  and  practicable, 
though  difficult,  ascent.  The  second  leads  to  the  brink  of 
an  abyss,  into  which  reason  and  hope  must  together  plunge. 
The  first  is  grave,  laborious,  and  productive.  The  second 
ends  in  a  jest,  of  which  man  and  the  world  and  its  Maker 
are  the  subject." 

A  second  instructive  fact  taught  us  by  history  and  observa 
tion,  is  the  strong  tendency  to  substitute  a  dogmatic  and 
denunciatory  spirit  for  knowledge  and  argument.  Men  of 
superior  intellect  and  extensive  erudition  are  very  apt  to  do 
this  in  respect  to  subjects  to  which  they  have  never  given 
special  attention.  Some  new  science  or  discovery  has  been 
brought  forward  in  such  an  aspect  as  seems  to  the  theolo 
gian  to  conflict  with  religion.  He  has  never  studied  the  sci 
ence,  it  may  be,  and  cannot  therefore  hold  an  argument  on 
the  subject.  But  he  feels  deeply  the  wound  inflicted  on 


80  MUTUAL    DELATIONS    BETWEEN 

revelation,  and  he  cannot  sit  still  and  see  that  cause  suffer 
which  he  loves  so  well.  He  denounces  the  new  discovery, 
therefore,  and  gives  no  doubtful  intimation  that  its  advocates 
are  sceptics,  trusting  to  his  reputation  as  a  theologian  to  en 
force  his  opinion  upon  the  public.  Some,  whose  organ  of 
veneration  is  large,  swallow  the  ex-cathedra  judgment  with 
no  wry  faces.  Others,  more  discerning,  see  through  the  ruse, 
and  sigh  over  human  weakness.  Scientific  men  look  upon 
the  whole  with  silent  contempt,  nor  deign  to  attempt  an 
answer  to  dogmatism  and  personal  abuse. 

Sometimes,  however,  a  scene  equally  absurd  is  witnessed 
on  the  other  side.  A  scientific  man,  desirous  of  extending  his 
discoveries  into  the  domain  of  religion,  ventures  upon  inter 
pretations  of  Scripture,  or  statements  of  doctrine,  that  show 
him  quite  ignorant  of  both.  The  practised  theologian  points 
out  the  fallacy  of  his  reasoning  so  clearly  as  to  wound  his 
pride.  But,  instead  of  generously  confessing  his  error,  he 
resorts  to  charges  of  bigotry,  narrow-mindedness,  and  igno 
rance  of  science,  and  dogmatically  maintains  that  science  is 
to  be  followed,  whatever  becomes  of  revelation.  He  shows 
towards  it  and  its  defenders  the  same  bitter,  bigoted  spirit 
which  he  censures  in  his  opponents.  Their  arguments  he 
cannot  answer,  because  he  has  never  studied  hermeneutics  or 
theology.  And  so  he  wraps  himself  up  in  the  cloak  of  self- 
conceited  wisdom,  and  substitutes  contempt  for  logic.  Men 
talk  much  of  the  odium  theologicum,  as  if  it  were  the  quint 
essence  of  gall.  But  really,  the  odium  scientifcAim  is  often  a 
much  more  concentrated  mixture.  The  most  illiberal  of  all 
bigots  are  those  who  fancy  themselves  the  very  pinks  of  lib 
erality  ;  and  pride  never  assumes  such  lofty  airs  as  when  it 
curls  the  lip  of  the  self-satisfied  philosopher  who  is  destitute 
of  Christian  humility. 


THE    PHILOSOPHER   AND    THEOLOGIAN.  81 

The  disastrous  influence  of  mutual  jealousy  and  hard 
speeches  between  theologians  and  philosophers  is  a  third  les 
son  most  impressively  taught  by  history  and  observation. 
Although  many  distinguished  divines  have  been  eminent  phi 
losophers,  and  science  is  largely  indebted  to  the  clerical  pro 
fession,  yet,  in  general,  the  two  classes  have  kept  very  much 
apart  from  each  other.  This  is  particularly  the  case  in  re 
spect  to  the  cultivators  of  physical  science.  In  general  they 
have  an  impression  that  theologians  feel  no  sympathy  with 
their  pursuits,  and  are  not  only  ignorant  of  science,  but  preju 
diced  against  it,  as  unfriendly  to  religion.  And  the  fact  that 
so  few  in  the  ministerial  office  do  regard  attention  to  natural 
science,  by  the  ministry,  as  entirely  appropriate,  fosters  this 
false  notion.  But  it  awakens  deep  prejudices  in  these  scien 
tific  minds  against  clergymen,  because  they  cannot  see  why 
the  ministers  of  God  should  not  take  interest  enough  in  his 
material  works  to  study  them.  Prejudice  prevents  that  inti 
mate  acquaintanceship  which  would  be  its  cure.  It  engenders 
distrust,  and  produces  severe  judgments,  and  keeps  those 
apart  who  should  be  cordial  friends,  because  they  are  both 
engaged  in  the  same  great  business  of  developing  the  works 
and  ways  of  the  Almighty. 

This  jealousy  and  want  of  acquaintance  with  each  other 
produces  a  reaction  on  the  part  of  theologians,  who,  also, 
become  censorious  and  distrustful  of  men  of  science.  They 
learn  that  some  such  are  sceptics,  and  they  presume  that 
nearly  all  are.  Hence,  when  some  new  scientific  discovery  is 
announced,  which  seems  unfavorable  in  its  bearings  upon  rev 
elation,  theologians  are  at  once  suspicious  that  the  author  of 
it  is  intentionally  aiming  a  blow  at  Christianity  —  although  the 
greater  probability  is  that  its  bearings  upon  religion  never 
entered  his  mind.  But  too  often,  in  such  cases,  the  zealous 


82  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

vindicator  of  the  truth  throws  out  such  an  insinuation  in  the 
public  ear,  and  if  the  scientific  man  is  not  a  meek  Christian, 
the  ungenerous  suggestion  may  convert  into  an  enemy  of  the 
faith  one  who  before  was  only  negligent  of  it,  or  indifferent 
towards  it. 

But  this  is  not  the  worst  of  it.  Such  a  course  produces  a 
conviction  on  the  public  mind,  that  men  of  science  teach  one 
thing,  and  theologians  another.  Nor  can  there  be  a  doubt 
that  there  is  a  strong  disposition  among  intelligent  men,  who 
are  not  pious,  to  take  sides  with  science,  even  when  it  seems 
hostile  to  revelation ;  and  thus  may  the  severe  and  unfounded 
judgment  of  the  theologian,  in  respect  to  science,  confirm  and 
multiply  men  of  sceptical  views. 

This  point  may  be  illustrated  by  the  history  of  geology. 
Ever  since  Cowper,  in  his  oft-quoted  lines,  charged  geologists 
with  digging  and  boring  the  strata  in  order  to  disprove  the 
history  of  Mos,es,  almost  all  subsequent  writers  have  repeated 
the  accusation  ;  and  I  doubt  not  that  the  almost  universal  be 
lief  now  is,  that  the  works  of  geologists  abound  with  open  or 
covert  attacks  upon  revelation.  But  the  impression  is  entirely 
erroneous.  In  perhaps  four  out  of  five  of  those  works,  you 
will  find  able  attempts  to  reconcile  the  facts  of  geology  with 
Scripture  ;  but  I  have  never  met  with  a  single  attempt,  in  any 
language,  by  any  respectable  geologist,  to  adduce  the  facts  of 
the  science  to  the  discredit  of  revelation.  Many  of  them  are, 
doubtless,  sceptical ;  but  they  have  not  done  this  thing,  as  they 
are  charged.  If  it  has  been  done  at  all,  it  is  by  men  of  no 
reputation  as  geologists.  Yet  probably  it  will  require  another 
quarter  of  a  century  to  rid  the  public  mind  of  this  false  im 
pression.* 

*  How  easy  would  it  be  to  substantiate  these  statements  by  quotations  from 
the  most  eminent  geological  writers  of  the  last  fifty  years ;  such  as  Jameson, 


THE    PHILOSOPHER   AND    THEOLOGIAN.  83 

Now  all  these  false  notions  would  be  avoided,  if  men  of 
science  and  theologians  would  cultivate  a  closer  acquaintance. 
If  men  of  science  were  often  to  come  into  contact  with  di 
vines,  instead  of  finding  them  narrow-minded,  bigoted,  and 
unfriendly,  as  they  now  suppose,  they  would,  in  general,  be 
gratified  by  their  enlarged  and  liberal  views,  their  ability  and 
candor  in  looking  at  scientific  truth,  and  their  ardent  love  of 
all  kinds  of  knowledge,  and  cordial  efforts  to  promote  it ;  and 
many  they  would  find  to  be  successful  and  eminent  cultivators 
of  science.  In  like  manner  would  scientific  men  appear  in  a 
quite  different  light  to  theologians.  Instead  of  subtle  and 
designing  enemies  of  Christianity,  they  would  find  many  to  be 
its  firm  friends ;  and  nearly  all  entertaining  for  revelation  the 

Silliman,  Buckland,  Coneybeare,  Mantell,  Sedgwick,  Lyell,  MacCulloch, 
Miller,  &c.  But  I  will  refer  only  to  a  recent  work  by  two  eminent  French 
geologists,  C.  D'Orbigny,  and  A.  Gente,  published  in  Paris  in  1851,  entitled 
"  Geologic  appliquie  aux  Arts  et  a  1' Agriculture."  Coming  from  a  city  gen 
erally  regarded  as  the  centre  of  European  scepticism,  and  whose  learned 
men  have  been  considered  as  unfriendly  to  the  Bible,  it  is  gratifying  to  find 
that  these  authors,  after  a  laborious  attempt  to  bring  revelation  and  geol 
ogy  into  harmony,  pass  the  following  noble  eulogium  upon  the  sacred 
volume :  — 

"  In  view  of  the  chronological  agreement  between  Genesis  and  the  most 
authentic  geological  facts,  we  cannot  but  accord  to  this  mysterious  book 
something  profound  and  supernatural.  If  the  mind  is  not  convinced,  it  at 
least  bows  reverently  before  such  writings,  brought  out  in  an  age  when  we 
cannot  suppose  the  first  elements  of  the  natural  sciences  wrere  known,  and 
which  embraces  a  development  of  the  principal  events  of  which  our  globe 
has  been  the  theatre.  We  find  in  Genesis  something  so  simple,  so  touching, 
and  so  superior  in  respect  to  morality  and  philosophy,  that  the  sceptic,  as 
tonished  moreover  at  the  genius  that  could  foretell  facts  which  scientific  re 
searches  should  demonstrate  so  many  ages  afterwards,  is  forced  to  acknowl 
edge  that  there  is  in  this  book  the  evidence  of  an  inspiration  secret  and 
supernatural ;  an  inspiration  which  he  cannot  comprehend,  which  he  cannot 
explain,  but  which  strongly  affects  him,  presses  upon  him,  and  controls  him." 
—  p.  107. 


84  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

highest  respect.  Their  chief  fault  is,  that  in  their  ardent  and 
exclusive  devotion  to  science,  they  are  apt  to  neglect  that 
higher  attention  to  religion  which  its  claims  demand — a  charge, 
however,  which  I  fear  lies  equally  against  most  other  classes 
of  society.  They  would  find,  in  fact,  almost  without  excep 
tion,  that  these  men  were  ready  publicly  to  express  their  re 
gard  for  religion ;  and  while  they  would  contend  for  the  full 
est  liberty  of  investigation  into  every  department  of  nature, 
they  would  resent  the  charge  of  intentionally  aiming  to  injure 
the  credit  and  authority  of  revelation. 

If  I  mistake  not,  a  reference  to  the  British  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science  will  not  only  confirm  these  sug 
gestions,  but  show  that  British  divines  are  ahead  of  Ameri 
cans  on  this  subject.  That  association  embraces  all  the  most 
eminent  scientific  men  in  the  kingdom,  as  well  as  many  from 
the  continent ;  and  they  meet  yearly  to  spend  a  week  together 
in  scientific  discussions.  Here  we  might  expect,  if  any  where 
among  the  cultivators  of  physical  science,  an  exhibition  of 
religious  scepticism.  But  the  fact  is,  a  decidedly  religious 
tone  has  always  been  exhibited  in  that  meeting.  Whenever  a 
fitting  opportunity  presented,  the  addresses  of  the  presiding 
officer,  and  of  the  members,  have  exhibited  a  spirit  not  only 
religious  in  the  general  sense  of  the  term,  but  in  its  Christian 
sense.  Said  Sir  R.  H.  Ingliss,  the  president,  in  1847,  "  I  will 
only  add  my  firm  belief,  that  every  advance  in  our  knowledge 
of  the  natural  world  will,  if  rightly  directed  by  the  spirit  of 
true  humility,  and  with  a  prayer  for  God's  blessing,  advance 
us  in  a  knowledge  of  himself,  and  will  prepare  us  to  receive 
his  revelation  of  his  will  with  profound  reverence."  In  echo 
ing  similar  sentiments  from  Dr.  Abercrombie,  at  the  meeting 
in  Edinburgh,  in  1834,  Professor  Sedgwick  remarked,  that 
"  the  pursuits  of  science,  instead  of  leading  to  infidelity,  have 


THE    PHILOSOPHER    AND    THEOLOGIAN.  85 

a  contrary  tendency  ;  they  tend  rather  to  strengthen  religious 
principle,  and  to  confirm  moral  conduct." 

One  of  the  most  gratifying  features  of  the  meeting  of  this 
body  in  Edinburgh,  in  1850,  which  I  had  the  pleasure  of  at 
tending,  was  the  strong  religious  influence  which  was  mani 
fested.  This  resulted,  in  part,  perhaps,  from  the  fact  that  the 
meeting  was  presided  over  by  that  truly  Christian  philosopher, 
Sir  David  Brewster.  But  his  noble  address  was  warmly  sec 
onded  by  others.  Said  Dr.  Robinson,  the  eminent  astrono 
mer,  in  complimenting  Dr.  MantelPs  lecture  on  the  gigantic 
extinct  birds  of  New  Zealand,  "  This  lecture  speaks  to  us  of 
God  ;  yea,  more,  it  speaks  to  us  of  Jesus  Christ," — alluding 
to  the  fact  that  these  birds  were  discovered  by  missionaries ; 
and  that  sentiment  was  warmly  cheered  by  the  immense  audi 
ence,  of  more  than  one  thousand  persons,  embracing  some 
twenty  of  the  nobility,  a  hundred  members  of  the  Royal  So 
cieties  of  England  and  Scotland,  sixty  professors  in  the  uni 
versities  and  colleges,  a  hundred  physicians,  and  a  hundred 
clergymen.  Ay,  a  hundred  clergymen  ;  and  in  the  fact  I  dis 
cover  the  main  secret  of  the  religious  tone  that  has  charac 
terized  these  meetings.  And  here  it  is,  as  it  seems  to  me,  our 
British  brethren  are  ahead  of  us  in  this  country.  For  there 
is  also  an  American  Scientific  Association,  on  essentially  the 
same  plan  as  the  British.  It  has  now  been  in  existence  twelve 
years,  and  I  have  attended  all  its  annual  meetings  save  two  ; 
nor  have  I  ever  seen  any  other  feeling  manifested  than  re 
spect  for  religion.  But  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  I  have  met 
there  only  a  very  few  of  my  clerical  brethren.  If  they  de 
sire  to  witness  in  this  body  as  decided  an  influence  in  favor 
of  religion  as  is  exhibited  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
they  have  only  to  attend  its  meetings  and  take  an  active  part 
in  its  labors. 

8 


86  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

A  fourth  lesson  taught  by  history  and  observation  is,  that 
neither  philosophy  nor  biblical  interpretation  have  yet  arrived 
at  a  perfect  and  unchangeable  state. 

Mathematics  is  the  only  science  that  can  lay  claim  to  infal 
libility,  and  even  this  admits  of  progress  ;  so  that  new  reli 
gious  applications  may  arise  from  new  researches.  The 
other  sciences  range  widely  along  the  scale  of  probability 
and  certainty  in  their  conclusions.  Many  points  in  them  all, 
and  in  some  nearly  every  point,  admit  of  further  elucidation, 
such  as  may  considerably  modify  their  religious  bearings. 
Let  the  history  of  philosophy,  even  in  the  exact  sciences,  and 
eminently  in  the  psychological  and  moral,  teach  us  how  vain 
is  the  pretence  that  they  can  assume  no  new  phase  in  relation 
to  religion.  How  cautious,  therefore,  should  the  philosopher 
be,  to  distinguish  between  the  settled  and  the  changeable  prin 
ciples  of  science,  before  he  pronounces  any  of  them  in  col 
lision  with  inspired  truth  ! 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  let  the  theologian  remember, 
that,  though  the  principles  of  the  Bible  be  infallible  and  un 
changeable,  not  so  is  its  interpretation.  Passing  by  the  wild 
rationalistic  theory  of  accommodation  in  biblical  hermeneutics, 
it  is  still  true,  that  on  many  principles  of  their  science  exe- 
getical  writers  are  not  agreed.  The  result  is  diversity  of  sig 
nification,  when  they  interpret  the  word  of  God.  Yet  to 
avoid  misapprehension,  let  me  avow  my  conviction,  that,  so 
far  as  the  essentials  of  salvation  are  concerned,  the  Bible  is 
so  plain  a  book,  that  no  theories  of  interpretation,  advocated 
by  honest  Christian  men,  can  conceal  these  great  truths.  In 
fact,  so  prominently  do  they  stand  out  in  the  Scriptures,  that 
it  needs  no  rules  to  make  them  intelligible,  save  what  com 
mon  sense  and  common  honesty  supply  ;  and  hence  no  soph 
istries  of  the  interpreter  can  long  conceal  them  from  the 


THE    PHILOSOPHER   AND    THEOLOGIAN.  87 

people.  But  very  different  is  the  case  with  some  of  those  parts 
of  Scripture  hard  to  be  understood,  and  of  others,  which  can 
not  be  understood  till  researches  and  discoveries  in  philology, 
history,  and  science  have  given  us  the  clew.  So  long  as  these 
discoveries  continue  to  be  made  will  the  meaning  of  some 
passages  of  Scripture  be  liable  to  modification ;  and  at  pres 
ent  these  branches  of  learning  are  far  enough  from  perfection. 
It  is  impossible,  therefore,  that  the  meaning  of  some  portions 
of  Scripture  should  not  receive  some  modifications  for  a  long 
time  to  come ;  and  he  does  the  most  injury  to  the  cause  of 
religion,  who  rejects  every  new  interpretation,  and  considers 
it  dangerous  to  disturb  the  settled  notions  of  men  as  to  the 
meaning  even  of  the  less  important  portions  of  Scripture. 
He  must  have  a  weak  faith  in  the  Bible  who  fears  to  have 
every  passage  in  it  subjected  to  the  most  thorough  scrutiny, 
under  the  concentrated  light  which  all  literature  and  all  sci 
ence  can  pour  upon  it.  And  he  must  have  a  very  narrow 
view  of  literature  and  science  who  fancies  that  they  have 
done  all  they  can  do  to  elucidate  the  sacred  text.  Yet  how 
common  the  notion  among  divines,  that,  while  "  human  science 
is  a  changing  and  a  restless  thing,"  theology  —  not  merely  its 
framework,  but  its  entire  covering,  coloring,  and  appendages 
—  has  long  since  received  its  last  finish ! 

The  fifth  lesson  taught  us  by  history  and  observation  is  the 
weakness  and  folly  of  predicting  or  apprehending  injury  to 
Christianity  from  scientific  discoveries.  Such  fears  and  pre 
dictions  are  not  uncommon.  On  the  one  hand,  the  infidel,  by 
a  hasty  inference,  feels  confident  that  the  new  discoveries 
will  give  a  deadly  blow  to  what  he  regards  a  false  system ; 
and  he  exults  in  the  anticipated  discomfiture  of  the  Christian 
church.  Some  intelligent  Christians,  also,  become  alarmed 
at  the  threatening  aspect  of  the  new  views,  and  tremble  for 


88  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

the  result.  But  how  vain  are  all  such  fears  and  predictions ! 
It  is  the  fiftieth  time  in  which  Christianity  has  seemed  to  the 
sanguine  sceptic  and  the  timorous  believer  to  be  in  great  peril ; 
and  yet  not  even  an  outpost  has  been  lost  in  this  guerilla  war 
fare.  Discoveries  in  astronomy,  geology,  chemistry,  and 
physiology  have  often  looked  threatening  for  a  while  ;  but 
how  entirely  have  they  melted  away  before  brighter  light  and 
more  careful  study  !  Moreover,  every  new  assault  upon 
Christianity  seems  to  develop  its  inherent  strength,  and  to 
weaken  the  power  of  its  adversaries ;  because,  once  discom 
fited,  they  can  never  rise  again.  It  will  be  time  for  the  infi 
del  to  begin  to  hope,  when  he  shall  see,  what  he  has  not  yet 
seen,  a  single  stone  struck  from  one  of  the  bastions  of  this 
massive  fortress  by  his  artillery.  And  strange  that  any  be 
liever  should  be  anxious  for  the  future,  when  the  history  of 
the  past  shows  him  that  every  science,  which  for  a  time  has 
been  forced  into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  and  made  to  assume 
a  hostile  attitude,  has,  in  the  end,  turned  out  to  be  an  effi 
cient  ally. 

History  and  observation  sustain  us  in  going  further  than 
this ;  they  show  us  that,  as  a  general  rule,  the  more  threaten 
ing  have  been  the  developments  of  any  science  in  its  earlier 
periods  in  respect  to  Christianity,  the  more  strong  and  abun 
dant  have  been  its  ultimate  support  and  illustration  of  religion. 
The  introduction  of  the  Copcrnican  system  of  astronomy 
seemed,  to  the  divines  of  that  day,  utterly  irreconcilable  to 
revelation  ;  and  they  contended  against  it  as  if  the  life  of  re 
ligion  were  at  stake.  Nevertheless,  the  demonstrations  of 
physics  triumphed  over  councils  and  decrees ;  but  instead  of 
proving  the  death  of  religion,  what  Christian  does  not  rejoice 
in  the  rich  illustrations  and  auxiliary  support  which  revelation 
has  derived  from  astronomy  ?  especially  in  furnishing  to  the 


THE    PHILOSOPHER   AND    THEOLOGIAN.  89 

commentator  the  true  principle  of  interpreting  texts  of  Scrip 
ture  that  relate  to  natural  phenomena.  So,  too,  chemistry 
was  employed  for  a  time  by  the  exulting  sceptic,  and  to  the 
alarm  of  the  timid  believer,  in  disproving  the  future  confla 
gration  of  the  earth.  Yet  not  only  has  this  envenomed  arrow 
fallen  harmless  to  the  ground,  but  the  science  has  furnished 
materials  enough  for  at  least  one  volume  as  a  prize  essay, 
entitled  "  Chemistry  as  exemplifying  the  Wisdom  and  Benefi 
cence  of  God  ;  "  and  other  similar  volumes  might  easily  fol 
low.  During  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  no  science 
excited  so  much  of  this  false  alarm  as  geology.  But  already, 
if  I  do  not  mistake  public  opinion,  the  tables  are  well  nigh 
turned,  and,  save  here  and  there  a  disconsolate  few,  who  have 
so  long  been  chanting  the  death  song  of  Christianity  that  they 
can  never  change  their  notes,  the  ministers  of  Christ  now  find 
among  the  religious  applications  of  this  science  rich  illustra 
tions  of  divine  truths ;  and  from  the  disinterred  relics  of  the 
deep-bedded  strata  there  come  forth  a  voice  in  defence  of 
the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  reformation,  and  a  new  argument 
for  the  divine  existence.  So  that,  in  fact,  this  new  field  of 
religious  literature  is  already  becoming  attractive  and  pro 
lific  in  publications.  To  geology,  therefore,  may  be  applied 
the  riddle  of  Samson  :  Out  of  the  eater  comes  forth  meat,  and 
out  of  the  strong  comes  forth  sweetness. 

Now,  in  view  of  such  results,  we  may  confidently  predict 
that  some  recent  and  yet  imperfect  sciences,  lying  on  the  out 
skirts  of  physiology  and  psychology,  although  at  present 
greatly  perverted  by  sciolism,  and  made  to  bear  unfavorably 
both  upon  morals  and  religion,  will  in  the  end  afford  a  sup 
port  to  both,  proportionably  strong.  What  they  need  now  is 
careful  investigation  by  clear-headed  men  of  the  Baconian 
school,  who  are  familiar  both  with  physical  and  intellectual 
8* 


90  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

science.  But  so  long  have  these  subjects  been  in  the  hands 
of  charlatans,  or  of  men  with  limited  and  partial  views,  thai 
able  and  respectable  philosophers,  especially  among  the  cler 
gy,  shrink  from  their  investigation,  lest  the  title  of  phrenolo 
gist,  or  mesmerist,  or  spiritualist  should  destroy  their  repu 
tation  and  usefulness.  It  ought  not  so  to  be  ;  and  I  am  satis 
fied  that  not  until  this  thorough  investigation  takes  place  will 
these  branches  of  knowledge  be  placed  upon  the  same  sure 
footing  on  which  other  departments  of  experimental  science 
rest.  At  present  they  seem  to  me  like  some  large  temple,  or 
palace,  mostly  buried  by  rubbish,  with  only  here  and  there 
some  tower,  or  minaret,  or  column  projecting  above  the  sur 
face.  Around  these  detached  parts  groups  are  gathered,  en 
deavoring  to  show  that  each  tower  or  column  is  a  complete 
temple.  But  not  till  the  vast  piles  of  rubbish  are  removed 
will  the  real  temple  exhibit  its  true  proportions  and  character. 
When  this  is  done,  I  fancy  that  the  structure  will  be  found  a 
noble  one,  and  worthy  of  the  infinite  Architect. 

I  have  time  to  derive  only  one  other  lesson  from  history 
and  observation  on  this  subject.  They  show  us  how  unwise 
it  is  to  denounce  any  new  discovery,  or  theory  in  science, 
when  they  are  first  broached,  as  hostile  to  religion ;  and  es 
pecially  to  take  the  ground  that  if  the  new  views  are  true, 
the  Bible  must  be  false.  There  is  a  strong  temptation  to  do 
this.  Men  of  ardent  temperament,  who  love  the  Bible,  when 
any  thing  is  advanced  which  can  be  construed  into  hostility  to 
its  statements,  feel  as  we  all  do  when  any  thing  is  suggested 
derogatory  to  the  character  of  a  near  friend.  We  rush  to 
the  defence  without  waiting  for  the  dictates  of  prudence ;  and 
thus  we  may  injure  instead  of  assisting  our  friend.  Much 
more  liable  are  we  to  injure  the  Bible.  There  is  no  need  of 
such  haste.  Christianity  stands  on  too  firm  and  broad  a  base 


THE    PHILOSOPHER    AND    THEOLOGIAN.  91 

to  be  overturned  by  one  or  a  hundred  such  blows  as  have 
hitherto  been  aimed  against  it.  The  true  policy  is  to  wait  for 
a  time,  to  see  whether  we  fully  understand  the  new  views, 
and  whether  they  conflict  with  the  letter  or  the  spirit  of  revela 
tion.  Suppose  the  theologian  should  take  ground  which  he  is 
compelled  afterwards  to  abandon,  and  to  fall  in  with  the  new 
discovery.  With  how  bad  a  grace  will  he  come  over  to  the 
new  ground  after  severely  denouncing  as  infidels  those  who 
adopted  it !  How  likely  to  lose  the  public  respect,  and  to  make 
sceptics  of  those  who  were  before  only  indifferent !  How 
mortifying  must  it  have  been  to  the  theologians  who,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  denounced  astronomy,  to  see  its 
discoveries  at  length  introduced  into  the  almanac,  and  testify 
ing  of  their  bigotry  to  all  classes  !  Who  can  doubt  that  many 
a  man,  in  despising  them,  was  led  to  despise  the  sacred  cause 
which  they  were  appointed  to  defend  ?  Yet  the  theologians 
honestly  believed  that  to  admit  the  earth's  annual  and  diurnal 
revolution  would  overthrow  the  Bible.  But  how  much  better 
to  have  waited  a  little  before  avowing  their  convictions  ! 

How  little  heed,  however,  do  men  give  to  the  mistakes  of 
their  predecessors  !  The  same  eagerness  and  hot  haste  have 
been  manifested  in  our  own  day  to  rush  into  the  conflict  with 
scientific  men,  as  they  have  brought  out  new  discoveries  ap 
parently  unfriendly  in  their  bearing  upon  revelation.  Divines, 
eager  for  the  onset,  have  not  waited  till  they  could  study  the 
subject  and  understand  it,  but  have  rushed  upon  the  foe,  confi 
dent  that  by  abstractions  and  denunciation,  if  by  no  other  weap 
ons,  they  could  crush  him.  Often  have  they  found  themselves 
in  conflict  with  a  windmill,  and  all  they  have  accomplished 
has  been  to  make  themselves  ridiculous,  as  with  fallen  crest 
and  trailing  plumes  they  have  left  the  field.  A  little  delay 
would  have  taught  them  that  sometimes,  at  least,  the  better 
part  of  valor  is  discretion. 


92  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

Allow  me  to  refer  to  a  very  recent  example,  where  the  cau 
tion  which  I  recommend  would  have  been  wisely  adopted. 
Some  of  our  zoologists  have  advanced  views  respecting  the 
specific  unity  and  unity  of  origin  of  the  human  race,  that  are 
in  conflict  with  the  common  understanding  of  revelation  ;  and 
at  once  able  divines  took  the  ground  that  such  views  are  irrec 
oncilably  opposed  to  the  whole  scheme  of  the  Bible.  They  may 
be  so  ;  but  why  declare  it  before  the  subject  has  been  more 
thoroughly  discussed,  and  we  are  sure  that  we  understand 
it?  It  may  turn  out  —  and  such  is  my  own  conviction  — 
that  the  zoologists  have  too  hastily  decided  this  question,  be 
cause  they  judged  of  it  chiefly  from  facts  in  the  limited  field 
of  their  own  science.  Suppose  it  should  appear  that  eminent 
naturalists  are  divided  in  opinion  on  the  subject.  Suppose 
that,  when  they  assert  that  there  are  several  species  of  men, 
they  are  unable  to  tell  us  what  constitutes  a  species,  and  can 
not  draw  a  line  of  distinction  between  species  and  varieties. 
Suppose  that  we  should  find  zoologists  entirely  disagreed  on 
the  subject  of  hybridity.  Suppose  it  should  appear  that  the 
laws  of  distribution  in  the  species  and  varieties  of  the  lower 
animals,  which  is  the  grand  argument  for  proving  a  diversity 
of  origin  in  the  case  of  man,  should  be  found  greatly  modified 
in  respect  to  him,  by  his  cosmopolite  character  and  ability, 
through  superior  mental  endowments,  to  adapt  himself  to 
different  circumstances.  Suppose  we  should  find  examples 
of  varieties  of  men,  who  have  passed  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  races,  save  in  color,  through  the  influence  of  deterio 
rating  causes  long  acting.  Suppose  it  should  appear  that  eth 
nology  and  psychology  are  entitled  to  as  much  weight  in  their 
testimony  on  this  subject  as  zoology,  and  that  they  should  pro 
nounce  in  favor  of  a  unity  of  origin.  Suppose  it  should  be 
found  that  many  other  elements  of  this  most  difficult  subject 


THE    PHILOSOPHER   AND    THEOLOGIAN.  IM 

are  yet  not  well  enough  understood  to  reason  from,  and  de 
mand  long  and  patient  investigation.  Or  make  the  most  un 
favorable  supposition,  viz.,  that  the  preponderance  of  evidence 
favors  the  idea  of  a  diversity  of  origin.  Is  it  quite  certain  that 
we  must  give  up  the  Bible,  or  its  more  important  doctrines  ? 
Would  the  discrepancy  appear  so  great  as  it  did  when  the 
Copernican  system  was  first  announced  ?  Shame  on  us,  that 
we  feel  so  fearful  in  respect  to  God's  Word,  and  those  eternal 
truths  that  form  the  groundwork  of  the  scheme  of  salvation  ! 
Right  is  it  that  we  should  address  ourselves  manfully  to  every 
argument  that  bears  upon  revelation  ;  but  how  unwise,  when 
it  is  wholly  unnecessary,  to  take  ground  which  we  may  be 
compelled  with  a  bad  grace  to  relinquish ! 

In  conclusion,  let  me  recapitulate  the  principles,  which,  as  I 
have  endeavored  to  show,  should  be  the  common  creed,  and 
regulate  the  intercourse  and  feelings  of  the  theologian  and 
philosopher. 

They  should  start  with  the  principle  that  theology  is  entitled 
to  higher  respect,  as  a  standard  of  appeal,  than  any  branch  of 
knowledge  not  strictly  demonstrative. 

It  should  also  be  admitted  that,  as  a  means  of  moral  refor 
mation  and  a  regulator  of  human  affairs,  philosophy  has  little 
comparative  power. 

They  can  agree,  also,  in  the  position,  that  entire  harmony 
will  be  the  final  result  of  all  researches  in  philosophy  and  re 
ligion. 

To  the  scientific  man  should  be  granted  the  freest  and  the 
fullest  liberty  of  investigation. 

The  language  of  science  and  of  Scripture,  as  well  as  of 
popular  religious  literature,  requires  different,  or  at  least  modi 
fied,  principles  of  interpretation. 

Revelation  has  not  anticipated  scientific  discovery. 


94  MUTUAL    RELATIONS   BETWEEN 

It  is  required  that  those  who  pronounce  judgment  on  points 
of  connection  between  science  and  revelation,  should  be  well 
acquainted  with  both  subjects. 

The  facts  and  principles  of  science,  to  an  unprejudiced,  un 
sophisticated  mind,  are  favorable  to  piety. 

They  form  a  vast  storehouse  for  the  use  of  natural  theology. 

They  cast  light  upon  and  illustrate  revelation. 

The  harmony  of  science  and  revelation  is  mutually  bene 
ficial. 

The  cultivation  of  science,  without  the  restraints  of  religion, 
often  proves  very  disastrous. 

The  general  diffusion  of  science  through  a  community  is 
impossible  without  religion. 

The  precise  language  of  science  may  be  useful  in  stating 
the  principles  of  theology. 

History  shows  impressively  the  danger  of  exalting  philoso 
phy  above  revelation. 

And  the  evils  of  substituting  a  denunciatory  spirit  for  knowl 
edge  and  argument. 

It  shows  us  also  the  evils  of  mutual  jealousy  and  hard 
speeches  between  theologians  and  philosophers. 

And  the  folly  and  weakness  of  predicting  injury  to  revela 
tion  from  scientific  discoveries. 

The  more  threatening  to  religion  the  developments  of  any 
science  at  first,  the  more  abundant  will  be  its  defence  and 
illustration  of  religion  ultimately. 

Finally,  it  is  unwise  hastily  to  denounce  any  new  discovery 
as  unfriendly  to  religion,  and  much  safer  to  wait  till  its  nature 
and  bearing  are  well  understood. 

Now,  in  conclusion,  is  not  a  code  of  this  description  needed  ? 
I  feel  the  imperfection  of  this  first  effort  to  draw  it  out ;  but  I 
offer  it  as  the  beginning  of  a  necessary  work.  Had  the 


THE   PHILOSOPHER   AND   THEOLOGIAN.  95 

common  ground  on  which  divines  and  philosophers  may  stand, 
been  cleared  up  and  marked  out  centuries  ago,  how  many 
violations  of  sacred  charity  and  good  manners,  how  many  un 
reasonable  jealousies  and  prejudices,  how  many  angry  contro 
versies  might  have  been  prevented  ;  and  how  much  nearer  to 
entire  harmony  might  science  and  religion  ere  this  have  been 
brought !  And  how  many  more  examples  would  the  page  of 
history  have  presented  of  genuine,  humble-hearted,  Christian 
philosophers,  and  of  high-minded,  liberal-hearted,  philosophic 
divines  ! 

It  is  such  men  that  are  wanted  in  the  ranks  of  science  and 
the  ranks  of  theology ;  and  the  principles  which  I  have  point 
ed  out  at  this  time  are  well  adapted  to  form  them.  Could  I 
excite  a  desire  in  the  hearts  of  our  students  in  theology  to  take 
this  high  position,  I  should  not  have  written  in  vain.  For 
what  is  a  Christian  philosopher  ?  He  is  a  man  who  loves 
Nature,  and  with  untiring  industry  endeavors  to  penetrate  her 
mysteries.  With  a  mind  too  large  for  narrow  views,  too 
generous  and  frank  for  distorting  prejudice,  and  too  pure  to  be 
the  slave  of  appetite  and  passion,  he  calmly  surveys  the  phe 
nomena  of  nature,  to  learn  from  thence  the  great  plan  of  the 
universe  as  it  lay  originally  in  the  divine  mind.  Nor  does  he 
stop  when  he  has  found  out  the  mechanical,  chemical,  and 
organic  laws  of  nature,  but  rises  to  those  higher  principles  by 
which  the  moral  relations  of  man  to  his  Maker  are  disclosed. 
Hence  he  receives  with  gratitude  and  joy  those  richer  dis 
closures  of  truth  which  revelation  brings.  To  its  authority 
he  bows  reverently  and  rejoicingly,  and  counts  it  the  best 
use  he  can  make  of  science  to  render  it  tributary  to  revela 
tion,  and  to  the  cultivation  of  his  own  piety.  He  exhibits  a 
generous  enthusiasm  in  the  cultivation  of  science  ;  but  he  has 
a  stronger  desire  to  have  it  associated  with  religion  ;  and  hence 


96  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

he  cherishes  a  high  respect  for  those  whose  business  it  is  to 
teach  it.  Indeed,  the  noblest  example  of  a  true  Christian 
philosopher  is  seen  in  the  able  and  faithful  minister  of  the 
gospel,  who  employs  a  thorough  knowledge  of  science,  not 
merely  to  enlighten  the  ignorant,  but  to  illustrate  and  enforce 
\he  higher  principles  of  religion. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  I  were  to  give  a  definition  of  the 
highest  style  of  a  philosophic  divine,  it  would  be  synonymous 
with  that  of  the  Christian  philosopher.  I  should  represent 
him  as  one  whose  grand  object  is  to  glorify  God  in  the  salva 
tion  of  men,  by  means  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  but  who  made 
the  whole  circle  of  knowledge,  literary  and  scientific,  sub 
servient  to  his  great  object. 

Thus  may  the  philosopher  and  the  theologian  be  combined 
in  the  same  individual.  And  why  should  they  not  ?  To  whom 
is  it  more  fitting  to  be  an  interpreter  of  nature,  than  to  him 
who  interprets  God's  work  of  revelation  ?  Were  such  an 
identity  more  often  realized,  there  would  no  longer  be  need  to 
draw  out  a  code  of  principles  for  regulating  the  conduct  and 
feelings  of  those  no  longer  twain.  It  would  be  like  laying 
down  a  set  of  rules  for  regulating  the  conduct  of  the  different 
members  of  the  same  individual  towards  one  another. 

If,  then,  the  theologian  and  philosopher  may  be  thus  identi 
fied,  it  must  be  because  the  principles  of  theology  are  in  har 
mony  with  those  of  philosophy.  Theology  does,  indeed,  de 
velop  principles  which  the  sounding  line  of  philosophy  cannot 
reach.  But  so  far  as  the  two  systems  can  be  compared,  they 
coincide.  And  we  may  be  sure  that  whatever  goes  by  the 
name  of  science,  which  contradicts  a  fair  and  enlightened 
exhibition  of  revealed  truth,  is  only  false  philosophy.  To 
develop  this  harmony  should  be  an  object  of  the  Christian 
ministry,  second  only  in  importance  to  its  first  aim  —  that  of 


THE    PHILOSOPHER   AND    THEOLOGIAN.  97 

the  personal  salvation  of  men.  Indeed,  so  enlightened  at  this 
day  is  the  popular  mind  in  matters  of  science,  that  a  large 
class  of  intelligent  men  will  not  listen  to  the  claims  of  Chris 
tianity  till  they  are  satisfied  it  does  not  conflict  with  science. 
It  is  gratifying  to  find  our  young  brethren,  as  they  issue  yearly 
from  our  theological  institutions,  so  well  qualified,  by  their 
enlarged  and  accurate  knowledge  both  of  science  and  theology, 
to  engage  successfully  in  this  noble  work.  We  bid  them  God 
speed  in  it ;  and  so  does  the  voice  of  history.  For  it  tells 
them  that  the  issue  of  every  assault  upon  religion,  with  weap 
ons  drawn  from  science,  has  been  to  Jwing  revelation  and  phi 
losophy  into  closer  agreement ;  and  hence  may  we  confidently 
anticipate  ultimate  and  entire  harmony.  It  is  gratifying,  also, 
to  remember,  amid  all  the  conflicts  of  opinion  on  earth,  that 
all  truth  originally  sprang  from  the  same  pure  source  —  the 
infinite  mind.  But  as  it  enters  this  world,  its  rays  are  sepa 
rated,  colored,  and  distorted,  by  the  media  through  which  they 
pass  ;  by  human  ignorance,  prejudice,  pride,  and  passion.  It 
is  the  noble  work  committed  to  divines  and  philosophers,  so  to 
prepare  and  adjust  the  rectifying  glasses  of  reason  and  revela 
tion,  that  they  shall  collect  and  rearrange  these  scattered  rays 
into  a  pure  and  uncolored  beam,  that  shall  spread  the  light  of 
heaven  over  the  darkness  of  earth.  O,  as  I  look  down  the 
vista  of  years,  the  sweet  vision  rises  before  me.  The  storm 
of  conflicting  opinions  has  passed  by,  and  I  hear  only  the 
distant,  dying  thunder,  while  the  spent  lightning  plays  harm 
lessly  around  the  horizon.  The  sun  of  truth  looks  forth  in 
glory  behind  the  retiring  cloud,  on  whose  face  it  has  painted 
a  bow  of  harmonious  colors  —  a  sign  of  peace  to  the  world, 
as  its  evening  comes  on,  and-  a  pledge  of  the  cloudless  and 
immortal  day  that  is  to  succeed. 
9 


SPECIAL  DIVINE  INTERPOSITIONS  IN  NATURE.* 


No  subject  of  theology  has  in  it  more  true  moral  sublimity 
than  the  government  o£^God  over  this  world.  Yet  it  is  emi 
nently  a  practical  subject.  Our  views  of  it  afford  a  test  of  our 
piety  and  a  type  of  its  character.  Nay,  there  is  one  feature 
of  this  government  that  has  been  regarded  as  the  chief  dis 
tinction  between  revealed  and  natural  religion.  We  refer  to 
Special  Divine  Interpositions.  These  have  been  supposed  to 
be  peculiar  to  revelation  ;  while  nature  moves  on  by  uniform, 
unchanging  and  unchangeable  laws  ;  nor  does  the  whole  his 
tory  of  those  laws,  as  given  by  natural  science,  show  a  single 
example  of  interference  or  modification  on  the  part  of  the 
Deity. 

We  venture  to  call  in  question  the  correctness  of  these 
views.  If  we  have  read  nature  aright,  it  teaches  a  different 
lesson.  That  lesson  may  be  worth  learning.  We  choose  for 
our  subject,  therefore,  SPECIAL  DIVINE  INTERPOSITIONS  IN 
NATURE,  as  made  known  l>y  science. 

Let  us,  in  the  first  place,  endeavor  to  affix  a  definite  mean 
ing  to  the  phrase  Special  Divine  Interpositions. 

But  here,  perhaps,  it  may  be  necessary  to  interpose  a  re- 


*  This  address,  essentially  as  here  given,  was  delivered  at  the  anniver 
saries  of  the  Newton  and  Bangor  Theological  Seminaries. 

(98) 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  99 

mark,  to  prevent  misunderstanding.  We  assume,  as  the  basis 
of  much  of  our  reasoning,  those  views,  now  almost  universal 
among  geologists,  and  very  common  among  theologians,  which 
teach  that  this  world  existed  through  a  vast  and  indefinite 
period  before  man  was  placed  upon  it.  Such  an  opinion  we 
think  perfectly  reconcilable  with  a  fair  interpretation  of  Scrip 
ture,  though  this  is  not  the  place  to  go  into  the  proof.  But 
let  no  one  imagine,  when  we  take  such  views  for  granted,  that 
we  mean  to  cast  the  slightest  doubt  upon  the  inspiration  and 
literal  truth  of  revelation.  Let  us  be  believed  rather,  when 
we  express  the  conviction  that,  if  admitted,  they  afford  a 
strong  corroboration  and  illustration  of  some  most  important 
doctrines  of  revelation. 

We  proceed  now  to  affix  a  definite  meaning  to  the  phrase 
Special  Divine  Interpositions. 

It  requires  but  a  few  years'  experience  in  this  world  to 
satisfy  any  observing  mind,  that  natural  operations  are  carried 
on  in  a  settled  order ;  that  the  same  causes,  in  the  same  cir 
cumstances,  are  invariably  followed  by  the  same  effects.  We 
call  this  uniformity  of  operation  the  course  of  nature  ;  and 
the  invariable  connection  between  antecedent  and  consequent 
we  call  the  laws  of  nature.  If  we  should  see  a  new  force 
coming  in  to  disturb  this  settled  order,  we  should  call  it  a 
miracle.  It  might  do  this  by  a  direct  counteraction  of  nature's 
laws ;  and  this  is  the  common  idea  of  a  miracle.  But  if  an 
unwonted  force  were  added  to  those  laws,  the  result  would  be 
a  miracle  ;  and  so  would  a  diminution  or  suspension  of  their 
action  ;  for  in  either  case,  the  effect  would  be  out  of  the  ordi 
nary  course  of  nature,'  and  this  we  take  to  be  the  essential 
idea  in  a  miracle.  Perhaps  the  best  and  briefest  definition  of 
a  miracle  is,  an  event  that  cannot  be  explained  by  the  laws  of 
nature.  It  may,  and  usually  does,  contravene  those  laws ; 


100  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

but  it  may  show  only  that  their  force  has  been  increased  or 
diminished. 

This,  then,  is  one  example  of  special  divine  interposition. 
Is  there  any  other  ?  Most  writers,  theologians  as  well  as 
others,  would  probably  answer  in  the  negative.  For  they 
admit  only  two  classes  of  events  in  the  universe  —  the  mirac 
ulous  and  the  ordinary;  the  supernatural  and  the  natural. 
And  yet  most  of  them  maintain  that  God  exercises  over  the 
world  a  special  providence.  It  is,  indeed,  true,  that  very  wide 
differences  exist  as  to  the  meaning  of  this  phrase.  One  theo 
logian  tells  us  that  the  providence  of  God  "  over  the  human 
family  is  termed  special,"  and  that  "  over  those  persons  who 
are  distinguished  for  virtue  and  piety  is  called  most  special."  * 
Another  calls  that  providence  special  "  which  relates  to  the 
church."  t  Another  regards  providence  "  special  when  it 
relates  to  moral  beings,  to  men  and  human  affairs."  J 

But  whatever  may  be  the  views  of  this  phrase  among 
technical  theologians,  the  leading  idea  attached  to  it  among 
Christians  generally  is,  that  God  provides  and  arranges  the 
circumstances  in  which  men  are  placed,  so  as  to  meet  the 
exigencies  of  individuals,  just  as  he  would  have  them  met, 
and  so  as  will  be  best  for  them.  In  other  words,  he  provides 
means  exactly  adapted  to  meet  the  specific  wants  of  indi 
viduals. 

Now,  it  is  an  interesting  inquiry,  whether  this  can  be  accom 
plished  by  the  ordinary  and  unmodified  operation  of  the  laws 
of  nature.  We  confess  ourselves  unable  to  conceive  of  but 
two  modes  in  which  it  can  be  done. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  how  God,  at  the  beginning,  when 

*  Storr  and  Flatt's  Biblical  Theology,  p.  240. 
f  Buck's  Theological  Dictionary. 
J  Knapp's  Theology,  Vol.  I.  p.  501. 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  101 

he  established  the  laws  of  nature,  did  so  arrange  their  opera 
tion  as  to  bring  about  such  results  as  the  exigencies  of  every 
individual  would  demand,  and  at  the  exact  moment  desired. 
Human  intellect  is,  indeed,  confounded,  when  it  attempts  to 
conceive  of  a  foresight  so  vast  as  to  embrace  in  a  glance  the 
history  of  every  individual  of  the  race,  and  then  so  to  arrange 
the  countless  agencies  of  nature,  that  every  item  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  numberless  millions  of  our  race  should  be  as  care 
fully  and  exactly  provided  for  as  if  only  one  individual  were 
concerned.  But  we  are  certain  that  all  this  is  perfectly  easy 
to  infinite  intelligence.  To  suppose  the  contrary,  is  to  de 
stroy  the  idea  of  omniscience ;  and  therefore  we  are  bound 
to  believe  what  we  cannot  comprehend. 

It  will  help  us  to  conceive  how  God  might  thus  arrange 
and  adapt  the  laws  of  the  universe  to  meet  particular  exigen 
cies,  if  we  consider  how  it  is  that  most  events  are  brought 
about  in  our  experience.  We  are  apt  to  regard  them  as  de 
pendent  upon  a  single  second  cause,  or,  at  most,  upon  a  few 
causes,  just  because  one  or  two  are  the  immediate  antece 
dents.  But  how  few  events  are  there  that  have  not  been 
essentially  modified,  at  least  as  to  the  time  and  manner  of 
their  occurrence  and  in  intensity,  by  what  may  be  called  lat 
eral  influences !  We  see  a  given  cause  operating,  and  we 
are  apt  to  feel  that  we  know  what  will  be  its  ultimate  effect. 
But  we  forget  that  every  event  in  the  universe  has  a  connec 
tion  with  all  other  events ;  that,  in  fact,  the  whole  series  of 
causes  in  the  universe  constitutes  a  plexus,  or  network,  in 
which  if  you  remove  one  of  the  fibres,  you  remove  the 
whole.  Every  occurrence  is,  indeed,  dependent  mainly  upon 
a  leading  cause  ;  but  the  result  may,  after  all,  be  prevented, 
or  greatly  modified,  by  any  other  cause.  So  that,  as  Bishop 
Butler  remarks,  "any  one  thing  whatever  may,  for  aught 
9* 


102  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

we  know  to  the  contrary,  be  a  necessary  condition  to  any 
other."  * 

Conceive  of  a  vast  hollow  sphere,  in  which  balls  of  various 
sizes  are  moving  in  every  direction,  and  with  all  degrees  of 
velocity.  Fixing  your  eye  upon  a  single  ball,  you  see  it 
moving  towards  a  given  point,  and,  if  it  meet  with  no  obstruc 
tion,  you  are  sure  that  point  will  be  reached.  It  may  pass 
through  its  whole  course  untouched.  But  when  your  eyes 
are  opened  to  discern  the  countless  multitude  of  other  balls 
flying  through  the  same  sphere,  you  feel  almost  sure  that  it 
will  be  deflected  from  its  course,  and  its  motion  accelerated 
or  retarded,  by  a  multitude  of  collisions ;  nor  can  you  pre 
dict,  by  any  mathematics  which  the  human  mind  can  master, 
what  will  be  the  exact  course  of  that  single  ball.  But  how 
easy  for  God  to  do  it !  and  how  easy  for  him  so  to  place  the 
other  balls,  and  to  give  them  such  momentum,  as  will  carry 
the  single  one  to  a  given  point  at  a  given  time  ! 

Now,  this  supposition  gives  us  a  not  unapt  representation  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  events  of  the  world  of  matter  and 
of  mind  are  brought  about.  They  are  almost  never  the  re 
sult  of  a  single  secondary  cause,  acting  directly  and  simply, 
but  of  a  great  multitude  of  causes,  modifying  one  another, 
and  conspiring  to  bring  out  the  final  development.  All  these 
agencies  were  originally  ordained  and  arranged  by  the  Deity, 
in  the  manner  that  seemed  best  to  infinite  wisdom,  which  had 
infinite  power  at  command.  Can  it  be  that  they  were  put 
into  operation  without  any  plan,  or  with  only  a  general  object 
in  view  ?  Who  does  not  see  that  God  might,  at  the '  begin 
ning,  have  given  to  these  countless  forces  such  degrees  of 
strength,  and  such  adjustment  and  direction,  that  they  would 

*  Analogy,  Part  I.  Chap.  VII. 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  103 

bring  about  just  such  results  in  the  history  of  every  individual 
as  would  be  desirable  ?  Thus  would  every  case  of  special 
providence  be  met  as  certainly  as  if  he  should  interfere  mi 
raculously  at  the  moment  in  each  man's  life  when  special 
interposition  would  be  desirable. 

But  with  such  a  complex  system  of  second  causes  in  opera 
tion,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  the.  same  object  could  be  accom 
plished  by  such  a  modification  of  some  of  those  causes  by  the 
Deity,  at  any  given  moment,  as  would  produce  the  desired 
result.  And  this  might  be  done  out  of  human  view,  so  that 
man  would  see  only  the  ordinary  operation  of  nature's  laws, 
and,  therefore,  there  would  be  no  miracle  ;  for  any  event  that 
can  be  explained  by  the  regular  operation  of  nature's  laws,  as 
already  remarked,  is  not  a  miracle. 

To  most  men  these  two  modes  of  providing  for  special 
providences  —  the  one  by  a  disposition  of  the  laws  of  nature 
in  the  divine  mind  from  eternity,  the  other  by  some  change 
effected  at  the  moment  by  divine  interference  in  the  complex 
causes  of  events  —  we  say,  these  two  modes  will  seem  to 
most  persons  very  unlike.  Indeed,  they  cannot  see  how  there 
should  be  any  thing  special  in  an  event  that  was  provided  for 
in  the  counsels  of  eternity,  and  which  transpires  as  the  result 
of  arrangements  then  made.  In  order  to  make  it  special, 
they  feel  as  if  it  were  necessary  that  the  Deity  should  inter 
pose,  in  some  way  or  other,  at  the  time  of  its  occurrence, 
just  as  the  mechanic  finds  it  necessary  to  modify  his  machine, 
if  he  wishes  to  accomplish  some  specific  object  not  provided 
for  by  its  regular  operation. 

Now,  we  feel  confident  that  such  impressions  result  from 
our  limited  views  ;  or  rather,  from  the  difficulty  which  finite 
creatures  experience  in  understanding  the  mode  in  which  an 
Infinite  Being  thinks  and  acts.  It  is  hard  to  divest  ourselves 


104  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

of  the  idea  that,  in  his  processes  of  thought  and  action,  God 
is  altogether  such  a  one  as  ourselves.  But  there  are  certain 
principles,  true  of  the  divine  mind  and  divine  action,  that 
cannot  enter  at  all  into  human  powers  and  human  conduct. 
One  is,  that  no  new  plan  or  motive  of  action  can  ever  enter 
the  divine  mind  ;  and,  consequently,  whatever  plans  we  find 
developed  in  God's  government  must  have  been  perfectly 
formed  in  the  counsels  of  eternity.  Another  principle  is, 
that  God  never  acts  except  under  the  guidance  of  those  fixed 
principles  which  we  call  law.  Hence  miracles  are  brought 
about  by  fixed  laws  as  much  as  common  events  ;  that  is,  in 
the  same  circumstances  we  may  expect  the  same  miracle. 
The  law  of  miracles  does,  indeed,  differ  from  all  others  ;  and 
this  constitutes  a  miracle.  But  to  suppose  that  God  ever  acts 
without  the  guidance  of  a  settled  principle  is  to  impute  to 
him  a  want  of  wisdom  and  character  which  we  should  be 
slow  to  charge  upon  an  eminent  man.  No  less  absurd  is  it 
to  suppose  the  Deity  ever  to  act  by  the  impulse  of  after 
thoughts,  as  men  do  ;  or  that  he  ever  does  any  thing  which 
he  had  not,  eternal  ages  since,  resolved  to  do  in  manner  and 
time  exactly  as  it  takes  place. 

If  these  are  correct  positions,  what  possible  difference  can 
it  make  whether  we  suppose  God  to  have  arranged  the  agen 
cies  of  nature  at  the  beginning  so  as  to  meet  every  exigency, 
or  to  interpose  whenever  necessary  to  accomplish  specific 
purposes  by  some  new  force  or  law  ?  Why  is  not  the  one 
as  special  as  the  other  ?  If  he  did  in  eternity  arrange  and 
balance  the  forces  of  nature  in  a  particular  manner,  with 
the  express  design  of  meeting  a  particular  exigency,  what 
matter  how  many  ages  intervene  between  the  arrangement 
and  the  event  ?  If  a  miracle  was  needed  at  a  particular 
moment  of  human  history,  and  God  originally  so  arranged 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  105 

the  universe  that  the  law  of  miracles  should  come  in  just  at 
the  right  moment,  would  the  event  be  any  the  less  special 
than  if  we  suppose  he  stood  by  at  the  moment,  like  a  finite 
being,  and  bv  his  power  arrested  or  counteracted  the  laws  of 
nature  ?  And  the  same  is  true  of  the  means  by  which  a  spe 
cial  providence  is  brought  about.  An  eternal  provision  made 
for  it  shows  merely  the  perfection  of  the  divine  plans  and 
operations,  but  takes  nothing  from  its  speciality. 

A  question  may  arise  in  some  minds  whether  such  views 
do  not  make  all  events  special,  though  such  a  statement  be  a 
solecism.  For  if  God  has  arranged  the  agencies  of  his  nat 
ural  and  moral  government  so  that  all  events  happen  just  as 
he  intended,  on  what  ground  is  it  proper  to  say  that  one  of 
them  is  more  special  than  another  ?  Do  they  not  all  meet 
some  particular  exigency  ?  And  what  more  can  any  of 
them  do  ? 

The  fallacy  of  such  an  objection  lies  in  the  assumption  that 
all  events  are  equally  the  objects  of  God's  intention.  If  it 
were  proper  to  apply  such  a  term  to  God,  we  might  say  that 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  an  incidental  providence  —  that  is, 
an  event  which  transpires  as  the  necessary  result  of  a  certain 
arrangement,  but  which  was  not  the  specific  object  of  such 
arrangement.  Perhaps  our  meaning  may  be  made  obvious 
by  reference  to  an  illustration  already  employed. 

We  refer  to  the  supposition  of  a  vast  hollow  sphere,  with 
balls  flying  through  it  in  all  directions,  and  of  course  often 
interfering  with  one  another.  Take  a  particular  ball,  and 
admit  that  God  has  so  adjusted  its  direction  and  velocity  that, 
in  spite  of  collisions,  it  shall  reach  a  given  spot  at  a  stated 
time.  Suppose  that  thus  to  reach  the  point  is  the  grand  object 
God  has  in  view  in  setting  the  ball  in  motion.  Yet,  on  its 
way  to  that  point,  it  might  encounter  a  multitude  of  other 


106  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

balls  ;  and  each  collision  would  constitute  events  as  distinct 
and  as  certainly  foreseen  and  determined  upon  as  the  final 
one.  But  they  might  not  accomplish  any  specific  object,  and 
be  merely  incidental  to  such  a  system  of  moving  bodies. 
God  might,  indeed,  in  infinite  wisdom,  make  them  subservient 
to  other  objects  besides  the  ultimate  one ;  but  they  might  be 
mere  incidental  occurrences  in  such  a  system,  which  even 
Omnipotence  could  not  prevent  without  altering  the  system. 

Now,  have  we  not  here  two  classes  of  events,  equally  the 
result  of  divine  power  and  wisdom  ?  Yet  one  of  them  is 
special,  and  accomplishes  a  definite  object ;  the  other  is 
merely  incidental,  and  may  or  may  not  be  used  for  a  spe 
cial  purpose.  Just  so  can  we  see  how  the  special  prov 
idence  of  God  may  be  distinct  from  common  providence, 
although  both  are  equally  the  work  of  God.  He  has  so  ar 
ranged  the  agencies  of  his  government,  that  certain  specific 
objects  shall  be  accomplished  infallibly.  But  through  the 
operation  of  those  agencies  a  multitude  of  other  events  are 
brought  about  incidentally,  which,  although  related  to  special 
providences,  are  not  such  in  themselves. 

Another  inquiry  may  arise  in  reference  to  some  of  the 
preceding  reasoning.  We  have  endeavored  to  show  that  spe 
cial  providences  may  be  the  result  of  an  original  adjustment 
of  the  agencies  of  the  natural  and  moral  world,  or  of  direct 
interposition  by  the  Deity  out  of  sight  in  modifying  those 
agencies.  Now,  the  question  is,  Which  of  these  methods  is 
actually  employed  in  the  divine  government  ?  Can  we  deter 
mine  which  ?  If  by  special  interposition  at  the  moment,  is 
not  the  evidence  of  such  interposition  precluded  by  the  very 
supposition  we  have  made  ?  For  the  statement  is,  that  the 
interposition  must  be  made  out  of  our  sight ;  while  within 
view,  the  event  seems  to  be  brought  about  by  the  ordinary 


.    ^v 

SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATT7BE.  107 

"" 


.-•    .      - 
laws  of  nature,  since,  if  made  within  sight,  it  would  te  m«uc- 

ulous.  All  wre  can  prove,  therefore,  is,  that  God  can  thrrsr 
interpose  and  modify  events  within  sight,  by  altering  their 
antecedents  out  of  sight  ;  and  this  is  all  that  seems  necessary 
for  the  purposes  of  religion.  Hence  it  is  that  the  Scriptures 
never  raise  any  such  questions  as  this,  but  simply  and  boldly 
assert  the  agency  of  God  in  the  leading  events  in  the  history 
of  nations,  communities,  and  individuals. 

From  the  preceding  course  of  reasoning  we  think  we  may 
consider  the  following  positions  as  established  :  — 

First,  that  there  are  two  modes  in  which  divine  interposi 
tion  may  take  place  —  the  one  by  miracles,  and  the  other  by 
special  providences. 

By  a  miraculous  providence  we  mean  such  a  superintend 
ence  over  the  world  as  interferes,  when  desirable,  with  the 
regular  operations  of  nature  within  the  sphere  of  human  vis 
ion,  and  brings  about  events  either  in  opposition  to  natural 
laws,  or  by  giving  them  a  greater  or  less  power  than  in  their 
normal  state. 

By  a  special  providence  we  mean  an  event  brought  about 
apparently  by  natural  laws,  yet  in  fact  the  result  of  some 
special  agency  on  the  part  of  the  Deity,  either  by  an  original 
arrangement  of  natural  laws,  or  the  subsequent  modification 
of  second  causes  which  lie  beyond  man's  sphere  of  vision. 

Secondly,  that  both  these  modes  of  interposition  take  place 
in  accordance  with  fixed  laws  or  rules  of  action  ;  so  that  there 
is  a  law  of  miracles  and  of  special  providence,  as  well  as  of 
common  phenomena. 

Thirdly,  that  the  difference  between  miracles  and  special 
providence  lies  in  this,  that  the  former  cannot,  and  the  latter 
can,  be  explained  by  the  laws  of  nature. 

Fourthly,  that  special  providences  may  be  the  result  of  an 


108  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

original  arrangement  of  the  laws  of  the  natural  and-  moral 
world  such  as  to  produce  special  results,  or  of  a  direct  mod 
ification  of  those  laws  at  any  time  by  divine  power  in  some 
of  the  links  of  causation  out  of  sight. 

And,  finally,  that  the  events  are  equally  special,  whether 
the  result  of  an  original  ordination  in  the  divine  mind,  or  of 
direct  modification  of  natural  agencies  at  the  time  of  their 
occurrence ;  nor  can  we,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  prove 
in  which  mode,  or  whether  by  both  modes,  divine  wisdom 
acts. 

The-  main  question  now  returns  upon  us  —  whether  there 
is  any  evidence  of  special  divine  interposition  in  nature,  save 
those  which  revelation  has  recorded.  All  such  interpositions 
must,  indeed,  occur  in  natural  operations,  since  it  is  their  sus 
pension  or  modification  that  constitutes  the  interposition  ;  but 
the  inquiry  is,  Does  science,  or  common  history,  apart  from 
revelation,  contain  any  such  records  ? 

We  waive  the  inquiry,  at  the  present  time,  as  to  the  evi 
dence  which  uninspired  civil  history  may  contain  of  special 
interposition,  both  because  the  field  is  too  wide  for  the  limits 
of  this  article,  and  has  already  been  to  a  considerable  extent 
explored.  But  the  records  of  physical  science  have  not  hith 
erto,  to  our  knowledge,  yielded  much  of  this  kind  of  fruit. 
Our  object,  at  this  time,  is  to  attempt  to  gather  at  least  one 
cluster  from  that  field. 

It  must  be  confessed  that,  as  a  general  fact,  physical  sci 
ence  seems  barren  of  any  evidence  of  special  divine  inter 
ference  —  presenting  us,  instead,  with  operations  as  uniform 
and  unchanging  as  mathematical  laws  can  make  them.  Nev 
ertheless,  if  we  do  not  greatly  mistake,  on  some  portions  of 
tlfe  vast  field  we  can  discover  the  imprints  of  special  and 
miraculous  providence. 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  109 

We  shall  speak  first  of  special  providence,  but  only  in  a 
brief  manner. 

From  the  nature  of  the  case  it  might  be  presumed  that  we 
should  need  a  revelation  to  show  that  God  had  originally 
arranged,  or  directly  modified,  natural  agencies  so  as  to  meet 
exigencies  in  the  case  of  individuals  or  communities.  For,  as 
man  sees  it,  such  providence  seems  to  be  brought  about  by 
unmodified  natural  operations.  It  is  hardly  sufficient  to  prove 
special  providence  to  find  that  great  wisdom  is  shown  in  con 
triving  and  adjusting  the  laws  and  agencies  of  nature  so  as 
to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  animate  creation.  We  want 
the  proof  that  those  laws  and  agencies  have  been  so  arranged 
and  modified  as  to  meet  particular  exigencies,  and  with  those 
exigencies  specially  present  in  the  divine  mind.  For  all  the 
purposes  of  religious  faith,  it  is  sufficient  to  show  that  God 
can  do  this  ;  and  therefore  we  need  not  expect  that  nature 
will  offer  many  examples  which  clearly  show  it  to  have  been 
done.  But  believers  in  special  providence  suppose  that  they 
can  find  proof  in  their  own  experience,  or  that  of  others, 
that  God  has  thus  interposed  either  to  bless  or  punish  them. 
When  they  perceive  that  various  causes  have  conspired  — 
causes,  it  may  be,  both  remote  and  undesirable  —  to  bring 
about  a  certain  result,  they  call  it  a  special  providence.  We 
know  that  we  need  to  be  slow  and  cautious  in  drawing  such 
inferences ;  but  not  unfrequently  the  evidence  is  so  clear  and 
decided,  that  not  to  do  it  would  be  hurtful  scepticism.  We 
will  mention  one  or  two  analogous  cases  in  nature. 

It  is  no  longer  a  conjecture,  but  a  settled  fact,  that  our 
globe  has  been  the  seat  of  several  distinct  economies  of  ani 
mal  and  vegetable  life ;  that  whole  races,  if  not  over  the  whole 
globe  at  once,  yet  over  wide  districts,  have  become  extinct, 
and  been  succeeded  by  new  families ;  and  the  new  species 
10 


110  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

have  been  quite  different  from  the  old,  requiring  new  condi 
tions  as  to  location,  climate,  and  food.  Now,  in  every  in 
stance  yet  known  to  us,  the  new  races  have  been  met  by 
conditions  exactly  adapted  to  their  wants.  And  this  has  taken 
place  although  the  state  of  the  globe  has  been  one  of  slow 
but  constant  flux,  both  from  the  escape  of  its  internal  heat, 
the  vertical  movements  of  continents,  and  the  action  of  vol 
canoes  and  water.  When  we  consider  how  delicate  a  bal 
ancing  of  these  and  a  multitude  of  other  agencies  would  be 
requisite  to  accomplish  such  an  object,  how  many  causes 
must  have  been  adjusted  and  made  to  converge  to  a  given 
point  through  a  long  series  of  ages,  it  does  seem  to  us  that 
this  case  should  be  regarded  as  something  beyond  a  mere 
wise  and  benevolent  ordination  of  nature's  laws,  and  as  a 
special  adaptation  foreseen  and  provided  for  by  the  Deity, 
either  by  an  original  adjustment  of  natural  laws,  or  by  their 
subsequent  modification,  so  as  to  bring  the  case  fairly  within 
the  definition  of  a  special  providence.  If  any  think  that,  by 
thus  regarding  a  case  of  this  kind,  we  should  include  all 
examples  of  wise  adaptation  as  special  providences,  we  can 
only  say  that  there  certainly  is  a  difference  that  should  be 
recognized  between  cases  of  this  sort,  which  seem  to  have 
been  the  special  object  of  divine  wisdom  and  intention,  and 
those  incidental  events  which  result  from  the  adjustments 
necessary  to  bring  about  the  special  events. 

But  the  records  of  science  furnish  us  with  another  class 
of  examples  in  nature,  still  more  indicative  of  a  special  prov 
idence.  They  are  cases  in  which  complicated  causes  have 
operated  through  vast  periods  of  duration  anterior  to  man's 
existence,  or  even  anterior  to  that  of  scarcely  any  of  the 
more  perfect  animals,  in  order  to  provide  for  the  wants  and 
happiness  of  those  animals,  especially  of  man.  Laws,  appar- 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  Ill 

ently  conflicting  and  irregular  in  their  action,  have  been  so 
controlled,  and  directed,  and  made  to  conspire,  as  to  provide 
for  the  wants  of  civilized  life  untold  ages  before  man's  exist 
ence.  In  those  early  times,  vast  forests,  for  instance,  might 
have  been  seen  growing  along  the  shores  of  estuaries ;  and 
these,  dying,  were  buried  deep  in  the  mud,  there  to  accumu 
late  thick  beds  of  vegetable  matter  over  large  areas  ;  and 
this,  by  a  long  series  of  changes,  was  at  length  converted  into 
coal.  This  could  be  of  no  use  whatever  till  man's  existence, 
nor  even  then,  till  civilization  had  taught  him  how  to  employ 
this  substance  for  his  comfort,  and  for  a  great  variety  of 
useful  arts.  Look,  for  instance,  at  the  small  island  of  Great 
Britain.  At  this  day  15,000  steam  engines  are  driven  by 
means  of  coal,  with  a  power  equal  to  that  of  2,000,000  of 
men ;  and  thus  is  put  into  operation  machinery  equalling  the 
unaided  power  of  300,000,000  or  400,000,000  of  men.  The 
influence  thence  emanating  reaches  the  remotest  portions  of 
the  globe,  and  tends  mightily  to  the  civilization  and  happiness 
of  the  race.  And  is  all  this  an  accidental  effect  of  nature's 
laws  ?  Is  it  not  rather  a  striking  example  of  special  prospec 
tive  providence  ?  What  else  but  divine  power,  intent  upon  a 
specific  purpose,  could  have  so  directed  the  countless  agen 
cies  employed  through  so  many  ages  as  to  bring  about  such 
marvellous  results  ? 

Or  take  an  example  on  a  still  more  gigantic  scale.  It  is 
already  ascertained  that,  by  the  same  process  of  vegetable 
growth  and  decay  in  the  hoary  past,  thick  beds  of  coal  have 
been  accumulated  in  the  rocks  of  the  United  States  over  an 
area  of  more  than  200,000  square  miles,  and  probably  many 
more  remain  to  be  discovered.  Yet,  upon  a  moderate  calcu 
lation,  those  already  known  contain  more  than  1100  cubic 
miles  of  coal ;  one  mile  of  which,  at  the  rate  it  is  now  used, 


112  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

would  furnish  the  country  with  coal  for  a  thousand  years  ;  so 
that  a  million  of  years  will  not  exhaust  our  supply.  What  an 
incalculable  increase  of  the  use  of  steam,  and  a  consequent 
increase  of  population  and  general  prosperity,  does  such  a 
treasure  of  fuel  open  before  this  country !  If  our  numbers 
should  become  only  as  many  to  the  square  mile  as  in  Great 
Britain,  or  223,  there  is  room  enough  this  side  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  for  500,000,000  ;  and  including  the  western  slope  of 
those  mountains,  for  700,000,000  ;  equal  almost  to  the  present 
population  of  the  globe.  And  yet  all  that  has  been  thus  far 
seen  in  this  country,  and  all  that  is  in  prospect,  is  only  an  ac 
cidental,  or  incidental,  event  in  his  theology  who  admits  no 
special  providence  in  nature.  We  are  not  of  that  number,  for 
we  not  only  believe  that  God,  through  vast  cycles  of  duration, 
directed  and  controlled  the  agencies  of  nature,  so  as  to  bury 
in  the  bosom  of  this  continent  the  means  of  future  civilization 
and  prosperity,  but  that  a  strong  obligation  hence  results  for 
every  one  living  here  to  throw  all  his  energies  into  the  work 
of  making  this  land  a  glory  and  a  blessing  to  the  nations. 

Let  us  go  once  more  on  the  wings  of  imagination  back  to 
that  remote  period  of  our  world's  history,  when  most  of  its 
present  continents  were  beneath  the  ocean.  As  we  hover 
over  the  waters,  we  see  them  agitated  by  internal  forces,  and 
now  and  then  smoke  and  ashes,  and  it  may  be  flames,  issue 
from  their  surface.  Submarine  volcanoes  are  pouring  forth 
their  contents  ;  and  could  we  look  beneath  the  troubled  waves 
we  should  probably  see  beds  of  various  kinds  thrown  out  by 
the  volcano,  spreading  themselves  along  the  bottom.  Among 
these  beds  we  should  probably  see  gypsum  and  common  salt. 
But  what  has  this  to  do  with  special  providence  ?  Let  the 
ages  roll  on  and  we  shall  see.  By  and  by  that  ocean's  bed 
is  slowly  lifted  above  the  waves.  Those  waves,  during  its 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  113 

emergence,  cover  it  with  a  soil  adapted  to  vegetation.  Man 
at  length  fixes  his  dwelling  upon  it.  He  discovers,  among 
the  exposed  strata,  the  gypsum  and  salt  which  he  so  greatly 
needs,  and  which  by  ingenuity  and  industry  he  can  extract. 
And  thereby  can  he  greatly  multiply  his  comforts  and  his 
numbers. 

In  like  manner  might  we  go  back  an^trace  out  the  origin 
of  the  various  ores,  the  marbles,  the  granites,  the  porphyries, 
and  other  mineral  treasures  so  important  to  an  advanced  state 
of  the  arts,  and  of  civilization  and  happiness.  And  we  should 
find  them  originating  in  agencies  equally  remote,  equally  cha 
otic  and  irregular,  and  seemingly  as  much  removed  from  all 
connection  with  man's  long  subsequent  appearance.  But  it 
does  seem  to  us  that,  during  the  long  series  of  preparatory 
agencies,  we  can  every  where  see  the  finger  of  God's  special 
providence  pointing  to  the  final  result. 

But  we  turn  now  to  inquire,  in  the  second  place,  what  evi 
dence  we  have,  in  the  records  of  science,  of  God's  miracu 
lous  providence  ?  And  we  take  the  position  that,  in  the  nat 
ural  history  of  our  globe,  we  meet  with  phenomena  explicable 
only  by  miraculous  intervention. 

Not  to  speak  of  the  earliest  condition  of  the  world,  which 
hypothesis  alone  can  describe,  let  us  follow  back  its  history 
only  to  the  time  when  legitimate  theory  shows  it  to  have  been 
in  a  molten  state.  That  its  internal  parts  are  still  in  that  con 
dition,  and  that  its  now  solid  crust  was  once  so,  seem  to  us  to 
be  proved  by  fair  inference  from  facts ;  and  such  is  the  opin 
ion  of  almost  all  scientific  men.  Think  of  it  now  in  that 
condition  —  a  shoreless  ocean  of  fire.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
conceive  how,  by  the  radiation  of  its  heat,  a  solid  crust  should 
form,  and  at  length  the  water  condense  upon  its  surface,  while 
volcanic  force  should  form  such  inequalities  as  would  make 
10* 


114  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

beds  for  the  oceans,  and  elevations  for  continents.  Nay,  by 
the  action  of  the  waves  and  the  atmosphere,  soils  might  be 
accumulated  upon  the  surface.  But,  in  spite  of  all  that 
merely  natural  operations  could  do,  what  a  scene  of  utter  des 
olation  and  loneliness  would  it  present !  That  wonderful 
power  which  we  call  life,  and  the  still  more  mysterious  prin 
ciple  of  mind,  wou^J  be  absent.  How,  then,  were  the  num 
berless  forms  of  organism,  animal  and  vegetable,  possessed 
of  life  and  instinct,  and  some  of  them  with  powers  of  intellect, 
—  how  were  these  introduced?  If  miraculous  interposition 
be  not  necessary  here,  we  know  of  no  exigency  in  which  it 
can  be ;  and  we  may  as  well  dismiss  the  idea  from  our  phi 
losophy  and  our  theology.  Just  see  what  the  problem  is  : 
nothing  less  than  to  take  a  world  of  rock,  more  or  less  com 
minuted  by  water,  and  to  convert  it  into  essentially  such  a 
world  as  the  present ;  to  take  a  world  utterly  dead  and  deso 
late,  and  spread  through  its  atmosphere,  its  waters,  and  its 
solid  surface,  ten  thousand  forms  of  life  and  beauty.  Has 
nature  any  hidden  inherent  power  to  do  all  this  ?  Why,  then, 
can  we  not  lay  our  finger  upon  a  single  manifestation  of  cre 
ative  power  in  nature  in  these  latter  times  ?  O,  that  power  is 
the  prerogative  of  the  Deity  alone.  Who  shall  have  the  bold 
ness,  and  even  the  impiety,  to  transfer  to  blind,  unintelligent 
law,  what  demands  infinite  intelligence  and  infinite  power, 
miraculously  exerted  ? 

And  yet  there  have  always  been  men  who  have  done  this  ; 
not,  indeed,  in  the  bold  language  in  which  we  have  stated  the 
principle.  Yet  some  of  them  have  confessed  that  their  object 
was  to  sustain  atheism.  Others  have  said  merely  that  they 
meant  to  show  that  every  thing,  even  the  creation  of  animals 
and  plants,  was  accomplished  through  the  inherent  self-creat 
ing  power  of  law  ;  but  they  left  the  origin  of  the  laws  to  each 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  115 

one's  own  convictions.  Nay,  some  have  attempted  to  recon 
cile  this  creation  by  law,  not  merely  with  theism,  but  with  a 
belief  in  revelation.  This  is  the  form  in  which  this  hypothe 
sis  has  clothed  itself  in  our  own  day.  In  such  a  dress  it  has 
ventured  forth  from  the  philosopher's  study,  where  it  has  so 
long  been  isolated,  and  become  incorporated  with  the  fashion 
able  literature  of  the  day.  And  it  has  enough  of  plausibility 
about  it  to  make  it  popular  with  men  who  have  only  a  gen 
eral,  but  not  a  minute  acquaintance  with  science,  and  who, 
afraid  to  live  without  some  religious  system,  are  yet  unwilling 
to  adopt  one  that  brings  God  near.  This  is  not  the  place  to 
discuss  such  views.  We  will  only  say,  that  true  philosophy 
must  reject  this  hypothesis ;  first,  because  the  facts  adduced 
to  sustain  it,  when  scrutinized,  are  too  few  ;  and  secondly, 
because  for  every  fact  seemingly  in  its  favor,  a  thousand  tes 
tify  against  it.  Accordingly,  all  the  great  living  and  recently 
deceased  masters  of  physical  science  reject  it.  Does  it  ap 
peal  to  anatomy  and  physiology  ?  Cuvier,  Owen,  and  Car 
penter  cry  out  against  it.  Does  it  evoke  the  aid  of  chemistry  ? 
Berzelius,  Turner  and  Liebig  see  its  shallowness.  Does  it 
call  on  zoology  for  aid  ?  Agassiz  and  Ehrenberg  can  refute 
its  claims.  Does  it  search  the  archives  of  geology  for  sup 
port  ?  Sedgwick,  Miller,  Lyell,  and  D'Orbigny  can  show  how 
certainly  they  will  fail  there.  Or,  finally,  does  it  appeal  to 
botany  ?  Hooker  and  Lindley,  Torrey,  and  Gray,  know  that 
it  will  certainly  glean  nothing  to  sustain  it  on  that  flowery 
field.  The  fact  is,  it  is  only  here  and  there  that  a  second- 
rate  naturalist  will  sympathize  at  all  with  such  dreamy  views. 
But  there  is  another,  and  perhaps  a  more  plausible  mode 
of  evading  the  general  argument  for  the  miraculous  introduc 
tion  of  organic  life  upon  our  globe.  When  we  descend  into 
the  rocks  a  certain  distance,  say  six  or  eight  miles,  we  reach 


116  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

those  that  contain  no  remains  of  animals  or  plants,  and  show 
the  metamorphic  action  of  heat,  by  which  they  have  been 
partially  or  wholly  melted.  Now,  most  geologists  consider 
this  horizon  as  the  starting  place  of  life  on  our  globe,  and  that 
the  rocks  below  it  were  formed  before  the  existence  of  animals 
or  plants.  But  some  —  and  they  eminent  geologists  —  main 
tain  that  these  lower  rocks  did  once  contain  organic  remains, 
which  have  been  obliterated  by  the  influence  of  the  intense 
heat,  and  that,  therefore,  we  cannot  tell  when  life  first  ap 
peared  on  the  globe.  For  aught  we  know,  these  metamor- 
phisms  may  have  been  going  on  forever. 

A  few  years  ago  it  might  have  been  difficult  to  prove  di 
rectly  that  this  hypothesis  is  false,  though  the  history  of  the 
rocks  afforded  many  presumptions  against  it.  But  the  re 
searches  of  the  last  few  years  among  the  oldest  of  the  fossi- 
liferous  rocks  have  furnished  its  full  refutation.  For  it  has 
been  ascertained,  that  both  in  Great  Britain  and  in  this  coun 
try,  stratified  rocks,  several  miles  in  thickness,  exist  below 
those  containing  fossils,  and  yet  retain  so  much  of  a  mechan 
ical  character,  and  are  so  partially  metamorphosed,  that  if 
ever  animals  and  plants  existed  in  them,  they  would  not  have 
been  obliterated.  The  metamorphic  action  has  not  been  suf 
ficient  to  melt  down  the  pebbles  and  fragments  originally  de 
posited,  and  therefore  not  great  enough  to  destroy  the  harder 
parts  of  organic  beings,  had  they  been  present.  Here,  then, 
we  have  an  indisputable  horizon  of  life,  below  which  there  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  it  ever  to  have  existed. 

But  even  if  we  admit  that  the  apparent  is  not  the  real  ho 
rizon  of  life  in  the  rocks,  there  is  another  scientific  fact  that 
proves  it  did  once  begin,  however  far  back  we  may  suppose 
the  metamorphic  cycles  to  have  extended.  In  other  words, 
we  can  prove  that  there  was  a  time  when  life  did  not  exist  on 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  117 

this  globe,  and  consequently  a  time  when  it  was  first  intro 
duced.     And  this  is  the  argument :  — 

If  any  body,  such  as  the  earth,  having  a  certain  tempera 
ture,  be  surrounded  by  a  medium,  or  by  other  bodies,  with  a 
lower  temperature,  it  is  certain,  from  the  laws  of  heat,  that 
the  warmer  body  will  continue  to  give  off  its  heat  to  the  colder 
ones,  till  at  length  they  will  be  brought  to  the  same  tempera 
ture,  unless  the  higher  temperature  of  the  central  body  is 
maintained  by  the  perpetual  generation  of  heat  within  itself. 
Now,  we  know  that  at  present  the  earth  is  placed  in  exactly 
this  condition ;  for  it  can  be  proved  that  the  temperature  of 
the  space  surrounding  it  is  at  least  fifty-eight  degrees  below 
zero.  Consequently  heat  must  be  continually  given  off  into 
the  planetary  spaces  ;  and  unless  there  be  some  internal  source 
of  heat,  the  earth  must  be  growing  colder.  When  did  tins 
cooling  process  commence  ?  Those  who  believe  an  indefinite 
series  of  organic  beings  to  have  existed  on  the  globe,  will  not 
surely  fix  a  beginning,  because  that  would  be  yielding  the 
main  point  in  their  hypothesis.  Yet  it  is  certain  that,  if  the 
earth  has  been  cooling  for  an  indefinite  period,  the  time  must 
have  been  when  its  surface  was  too  hot  for  animals  and  plants 
to  live  upon  it ;  nay,  when  it  was  in  a  melted  state.  There 
must  have  been  a  time,  therefore,  when  the  first  animals  and 
plants  were  commanded  into  existence  by  the  miraculous  fiat 
of  Jehovah.  For  the  idea  that  the  earth  possesses  within 
itself  a  power  for  the  indefinite  renewal  of  its  heat  as  it  es 
capes,  finds  no  support  in  philosophy.  We  can  conceive  how 
heat  might  be  produced  while  combustible  substances  were 
burning,  but  we  know  of  no  possible  way  by  which  an  indefi 
nite  supply  could  be  evolved. 

We  are  unable  to  conceive  how  any  philosophic  mind  can 
escape  the  force  of  such  reasoning  as  this,  which  natural  the- 


118  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

ology  brings  forward  to  prove  a  period  in  the  history  of  this 
world  when  it  was  destitute  of  organic  races.  But  this  is 
not  the  only  argument  which  science  can  offer  to  prove  mi 
raculous  interposition  in  nature.  A  second  proof,  quite  inde 
pendent  of  the  first,  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  earth  has 
been  the  seat  of  several  nearly  independent  systems  of  life, 
since  animals  and  plants  were  first  introduced.  A  certain 
group,  wisely  adapted  to  one  another,  and  to  the  state  of  the 
air,  the  waters,  and  the  surface,  as  well  as  to  the  food  and  the 
temperature,  have  flourished  for  a  long  period ;  and,  as  some 
of  these  circumstances  have  changed,  they  have  either  grad 
ually  died  out,  or  have  been  simultaneously  destroyed  by  some 
catastrophe ;  so  that  few  if  any  species  have  survived.  Af 
terwards  new  races  have  been  introduced,  exactly  fitted  to  the 
altered  condition  of  things.  These  also,  after  flourishing  long, 
have  disappeared,  and  another  and  another  system  has  suc 
ceeded,  until  we  can  distinctly  trace  five  economies  previous 
to  the  existing  races.  Many  writers  say  that  the  number  of 
systems  has  been  much  greater ;  and,  were  we  to  limit  our 
views  to  portions  of  the  earth,  it  is  undoubtedly  true.  But 
we  can  show  that  all  the  races,  animal  and  vegetable,  have 
been  changed  at  least  five  times,  over  the  whole  globe ;  and 
five  such  changes  are  as  good  for  the  argument  as  five  hun 
dred.  For  though  we  can  see  how,  by  natural  operations, 
organic  beings  can  be  destroyed,  yet  what  but  infinite  wisdom 
and  power  can  repeople  the  lifeless  waste  ?  This  question 
we  have  considered  under  our  first  argument,  and  hope  we 
have  shown  that  nothing  but  miraculous  power  could  have 
done  it. 

But  there  are  some  peculiarities  that  attended  the  introduc 
tion  of  successive  races,  which  deserve  notice.  From  the 
nature  of  the  case,  the  world  must  have  been  preparing,  by 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTEEPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  119 

the  reduction  of  its  temperature  and  increased  productiveness 
of  its  soil,  for  a  greater  variety  of  organic  beings,  and  for 
those  of  more  delicate  and  perfect  organization.  And  we  find 
that,  at  the  successive  epochs  of  creation,  there  was  a  corre 
spondent  increase  of  the  higher  races,  "  a  gradual  ascent  to 
wards  a  higher  type  of  being,"  *  in  connection  with  "  a  grad 
ual  improvement  in  the  style  and  character  of  the  dwelling 
place  of  organized  beings."  f  This  is  called  the  doctrine  of 
progression ;  and  it  obviously  points  to  a  beginning,  not  only 
of  organic  races,  but  of  the  present  system  of  inorganic  na 
ture,  and  requires  miraculous  divine  interposition. 

It  is  well  known,  however,  that  at  least  one  distinguished 
geologist  takes  opposite  views  of  this  subject,  and  maintains 
"  that  the  existing  causes  of  change  in  the  animate  and  inan 
imate  world  may  be  similar,  not  only  in  kind,  but  in  degree, 
to  those  which  have  prevailed  during  many  successive  modi 
fications  of  the  earth's  crust."  This  is  called  the  doctrine  of 
uniformity,  or  non-progression.  It  is  not  intended  by  its  able 
advocate  to  teach  the  world's  eternity,  although  it  has  that 
aspect ;  nor  does  it  conflict  with  the  idea  of  miraculous  inter 
vention  in  the  creation  of  animals  and  plants  ;  for  it  admits 
that  "  the  succession  of  living  beings  has  been  continued,  not 
by  the  transmutation  of  species,  but  by  the  introduction  into 
the  earth,  from  time  to  time,  of  new  plants  and  animals  ;  and 
that  each  assemblage  of  new  species  must  have  been  admi 
rably  fitted  for  the  new  states  of  the  globe  as  they  arose,  or 
they  would  not  have  increased,  and  multiplied,  and  endured 
for  indefinite  periods.  J 

Even  the  doctrine  of  non-progression,  then,  is  consistent 
with  miraculous  interpositions  in  nature.  Much  more  does 

*  Sedgwick.  t  Hugh  Miller. 

I  Lyell's  Manual  of  Elementary  Geology,  p.  501. 


120  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

the  doctrine  of  progression  demand  it.  And  we  confess  our 
selves  compelled  to  subscribe  to  the  latter  doctrine.  So  far 
as  inorganic  nature  is  concerned,  we  have  already  assigned  a 
reason  for  this  opinion.  Perhaps  the  evidence  from  organic 
nature  is  not  as  strong,  because  we  cannot  say  certainly  how 
many  of  the  more  perfect  animals  will  yet  be  discovered  in 
the  older  rocks.  But  so  far  as  we  do  know,  the  progression 
has  been  very  decided.  More  than  24,000  species  of  animals 
have  been  dug  out  of  the  rocks,  700  of  which  are  mamma 
lia  or  quadrupeds.  But  695  of  these  occur  within  2000  or 
3000  feet  of  the  surface,  while  in  all  the  54,000  feet  below, 
only  five  species  have  been  found.  Birds,  the  next  less  per 
fect  class  of  animals,  are  scarcely  more  abundant  in  these 
lower  rocks.  Reptiles  are  more  numerous,  and  extend  to  a 
greater  depth,  while  the  fishes,  the  least  perfect  of  all,  are 
still  more  abundant,  and  are  found  nearly  at  the  bottom  of  the 
series.  And  the  same  increase  of  numbers  would  be  found 
were  we  to  descend  still  lower  on  the  scale  of  animals.  All 
this  accords  with  the  doctrine  of  progression,  and  so  do  the 
facts  respecting  plants.  Now,  making  the  largest  allowance 
for  future  discoveries,  it  seems  hardly  possible  that  it  will  ever 
appear,  that  as  large  a  proportion  of  the  higher  orders  of  ani 
mals  and  plants  existed  in  the  earlier  periods  of  our  globe  as 
at  present. 

But  we  hasten  to  offer  one  more  proof  of  God's  miracu 
lous  interposition  furnished  by  the  records  of  science.  It  is 
the  creation  of  man.  All  observation  teaches  us  that  he  was 
one  of  the  last  of  the  animals  that  was  placed  upon  the  earth. 
In  vain  do  we  search  through  the  six  miles  of  solid  rocks  that 
lie  piled  upon  one  another,  commencing  with  the  lowest,  for 
any  trace  of  man.  And  it  is  not  till  we  come  into  the  upper 
most  formation,  —  we  mean  the  alluvial,  —  nay,  not  till  we  get 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  121 

almost  to  the  top  of  that,  merely  in  the  loose  soil  that  is 
spread  over  the  surface,  that  we  find  his  bones.  And  yet 
these,  formed  of  the  same  materials  as  the  bones  of  other 
animals,  would  have  been  as  certainly  preserved  as  theirs  in 
the  lower  rocks  had  he  existed  there.  The  conclusion  is  irre 
sistible,  and  it  is  acquiesced  in  by  all  experienced  geologists, 
that  man  did  not  exist  as  a  contemporary  of  the  animals  found 
in  the  rocks.  At  least  five  vast  periods  of  time,  with  their 
numerous  yet  distinct  groups  of  organic  beings,  passed  over 
this  globe  before  the  appearance  of  man.  This  is  not  a 
dreamy,  hypothetical  conclusion,  but  a  simple  matter  of  fact, 
which  has  been  scrutinized  with  great  care,  and  by  some  un 
friendly  to  revelation,  who  would  gladly  have  found  it  other 
wise.  But  no  fossil  man  or  works  of  man  have  been  discov 
ered  below  alluvium,  (in  which  we  include  drift;)  nor  would 
any  really  scientific  man  risk  his  reputation  by  maintaining 
the  existence  of  the  human  species  earlier  than  the  alluvial 
period. 

What  an  astonishing  exhibition  does  this  scientific  fact  bring 
before  us  !  Suppose  we  could  explain  by  chemical  and  or 
ganic  laws  how  the  inferior  animals  were  gradually  developed 
from  one  another  in  the  successive  periods  of  our  world's  his 
tory.  Yet  here  we  have  the  phenomenon  of  a  being  intro 
duced  at  once,  superior  somewhat  in  organic  structure  to  the 
other  animals,  but  raised  immeasurably  above  them  all  by  his 
lofty  intellectual  and  moral  powers  —  a  being  destined  to  take 
the  supreme  control  of  all  inferior  natures,  and,  so  far  as  need 
be,  to  subject  them  all  to  his  will ;  and,  in  fact,  to  convert  the 
elements  into  servants  to  do  his  pleasure.  The  anatomist  can, 
indeed,  describe  his  organization  ;  the  physiologist  can  point 
out  the  functions  of  his  organs ;  and  the  zoologist  can  assign 
him  his  rank  at  the  head  of  animate  creation ;  but  how  is  the 
11 


122  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

psychologist  baffled  when  he  attempts  to  unravel  the  wonders 
of  his  spiritual  powers  !  and  the  theologian,  when  he  looks 
into  the  depths  of  his  moral  and  immortal  nature  !  And  did 
it  demand  no  miracle  to  bring  such  a  being  upon  the  stage, 
and  fit  him  exactly  to  his  condition  ?  What  greater  miracle 
does  even  revelation  disclose  ?  Admit,  if  you  choose,  that 
all  other  events  on  the  globe  —  even  the  creation  of  all  other 
organic  beings  —  might  have  been  accomplished  by  ordinary 
laws  ;  yet,  so  long  as  the  great  fact  of  man's  creation  stands 
out  so  conspicuously  on  our  world's  history,  we  need  nothing 
more  to  establish,  beyond  cavil,  the  reality  of  divine  interpo 
sition  in  nature.  God  has  impressed  his  own  signet  so  deeply 
upon  this  last  act  of  creation,  that  scepticism  dare  not  directly 
attempt  to  deface  it.  And  this  grandest  miracle  of  nature  is 
also  the  greatest  of  revelation.  It  stands  up  a  lofty  and  im 
movable  rock,  amid  the  ocean  of  existence,  to  arrest  and  beat 
back  the  waves  of  unbelief,  and  to  reflect  the  glories  of  divine 
power  and  wisdom. 

We  might  add  other  arguments  corroborative  of  the  same 
principle.  But  if  the  three  which  we  have  adduced,  inde 
pendent  and  cumulative  as  they  are,  do  not  satisfy,  we  despair 
of  producing  conviction.  We  may  be  laboring  under  some 
hallucination  on  this  subject ;  but  we  cannot  see  why  the  evi 
dence  of  special  divine  interpositions  in  nature  is  not  as  clear 
and  decided  as  in  revelation.  The  only  difference  seems  to 
be,  that  in  the  one  case  we  depend  on  the  testimony  of  living 
witnesses  ;  in  the  other,  upon  the  conclusions  of  science.  But 
if  such  interpositions  have  been  made  in  nature,  it  is  easy  to 
see  how  important  are  the  bearings  of  the  fact  both  upon  the 
ology  and  upon  piety. 

See,  for  example,  how  the  miracles  of  nature  take  away  all 
presumption  against  the  miracles  of  revelation.  We  all  know 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  123 

that  tli is  has  been  a  favorite  point  of  attack  both  in  ancient 
and  especially  in  modern  times.  The  grand  argument  has 
been,  that  miracles,  being  contrary  to  all  experience  and  all 
analogy,  cannot  be  proved  by  human  testimony.  We  remem 
ber  the  metaphysical  network  woven  by  Hume  on  this  sub 
ject,  which  he  fancied  too  strong  for  any  Christian  champion 
to  break  through ;  and  we  know,  too,  how  many  professed 
Christians  at  this  day  assume  in  their  theology  that  miracles 
are  only  ingenious  myths.  Little  did  these  men  imagine  what 
a  record  on  this  subject  lay  concealed  within  the  stony  leaves 
of  the  earth's  crust,  or  that  the  hammer  of  the  miner  and 
the  geologist  would  bring  facts  to  light  that  would  sweep  away 
at  once  all  their  ingenious  quibbles.  So  long  as  Christians 
could  meet  them  only  with  abstract  reasoning  they  felt  strong. 
But  now  we  lay  open  the  solid  rocks,  and  show  them  there 
miracles  of  creation  as  wonderful  as  the  miracles  of  revela 
tion,  and  of  them,  the  creation  of  man,  perhaps  the  most 
remarkable  of  all,  is  the  same  in  both  records.  We  show 
them  that  interference  with  nature's  usual  course  has  been  a 
rule  of  God's  government  from  the  remotest  times ;  and  the 
conclusion*  is  irresistible,  that  what  God  has  done  during  the 
earlier  economies  of  our  world  he  will  be  likely  to  repeat 
during  the  human  era,  should  his  purposes  require  it. 

Not  less  efFectually  does  this  subject  remove  all  improb 
ability  from  the  doctrine  of  special  providence  in  the  case  of 
individuals  and  communities.  Nay,  the  facts  which  we  have 
presented  form  an  a  fortiori  argument  for  the  exercise  of 
such  a  providence.  For  if  we  find  proof  registered  on  the 
rocks,  that  God  has  taken  care  to  adapt  the  state  of  the  world 
wisely  and  benevolently  to  the  nature  and  wants  of  the  lower 
animals  that  have  peopled  its  changing  surface,  and  prospec- 
tively  and  specially  for  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  man  as 


124  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

a  race,  we  may  with  still  stronger  confidence  presume  that  he 
will  see  to  it  that  the  exigencies  of  individuals  of  that  superior 
race  will  be  taken  care  of.  Henceforth,  then,  when  we  wit 
ness  the  exhumation,  from  the  quarries,  of  the  strange  beings 
that  once  occupied  the  earth,  let  us  not  regard  them  as  mere 
objects  of  an  idle  curiosity,  but  as  so  many  arguments  to  show 
us  that  God  will  take  care  of  our  individual  interests ;  and 
when  we  wander  through  the  deep-seated  coal  mine,  or  any 
other  excavation  where  human  industry  is  extracting  mineral 
treasures  to  advance  civilization  and  happiness,  let  our  faith 
gather  thence  an  argument  for  implicit  trust  in  that  prov 
idence  which,  in  the  depths  of  past  ages,  buried  up  these  de 
posits  for  the  special  use  of  civilized  man.  How  delightful 
for  the  Christian  thus  to  find  food  to  nourish  his  faith,  where 
most  men  see  only  rugged  rocks,  and  think  only  of  accumu 
lating  wealth ! 

So,  too,  this  subject  takes  away  all  presumption  against  the 
doctrine  of  special  divine  influence  on  the  human  mind  ;  for 
if  God  would  work  miracles  to  accomplish  his  purposes  in  the 
natural  world,  much  more  ought  we  to  expect  that  he  would 
exert  those  influences  upon  the  human  mind  which  are  not 
inconsistent  with  free  agency,  and  are  essential  to  prepare  it 
for  a  higher  state  of  existence.  This  he  can  do  without  a 
miracle  ;  and  it  is  an  exigency  which  the  whole  history  of  his 
providence  leads  us  to  expect  will  be  met  in  this  manner. 

See,  too,  what  a  new  and  interesting  argument  may  be  de 
rived  from  this  subject  for  the  divine  existence.  The  usual 
argument,  that  from  design,  requires  us  to  prove,  or  assume, 
a  beginning  to  the  matter  of  the  universe ;  and  here  the  athe 
ist,  hiding  himself  in  the  fogs  of  the  doctrine  of  chance,  and 
an  eternal  series  of  things,  can  make  a  quite  formidable  show 
of  argument.  But  admitting  miracles  in  the  modifications  of 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  125* 

matter,  we  need  not  carry  our  thoughts  back  beyond  those 
modifications,  and  may  leave  the  question  of  the  origin  of 
matter  untouched,  without  any  injury  to  theism.  We  thus 
get  rid  of  a  multitude  of  dreamy  abstractions  which  have  so 
long  enveloped  the  argument  for  the  divine  existence  with  a 
mist.  We  force  the  atheist  out  of  the  obscurities  of  the  de 
ductive,  into  the  clear  light  of  the  inductive,  philosophy.  We 
bring  the  subject  down  from  the  airy  region  of  metaphysics, 
and  place  it  on  the  firm  ground  of  common  sense. 

This  subject,  also,  may  be  made  to  subserve  another  pur 
pose,  no  less  important.  It  aims  a  deadly  blow  at  all  those 
subtle  systems  of  religion  founded  on  the  supposed  unending 
uniformity  of  nature's  laws,  and  their  inherent  power  to  ac 
complish  all  the  changes  of  the  organic  and  inorganic  worlds. 
Some  of  these  systems,  as  we  have  remarked  in  another  con 
nection,  admit  that  there  might  be  a  Deity  to  ordain  these 
laws  originally  ;  but  that  is  a  question  of  no  great  importance, 
since  it  is  the  laws  themselves,  and  not  divine  intervention, 
that  have  taken  the  world  in  the  state  of  nebulous  vapor,  con 
densed  it  into  a  sphere,  brought  in  at  first  a  few  species  of 
animals  and  plants  of  the  simplest  organization,  in  the  state 
of  monads,  and  from  them  gradually  developed  all  the  higher 
forms  of  life  by  the  force  of  external  circumstances  and  an 
internal  tendency  to  improvement,  until,  at  length,  as  the  last 
act  of  the  drama,  man,  in  the  form  of  the  negro  race,  was 
evolved  from  the  semi-quadrupedal  orang,  and,  still  pressing 
onward,  has  assumed  the  loftier  character  of  the  Caucasian. 

Now,  either  the  entire  history  of  our  globe,  which  has  been 
dug  out  of  its  stony  archives,  is  false,  or  this  hypothesis  is 
untrue.  The  history  is  based  on  facts,  gathered  from  a  thou 
sand  fields,  widely  scattered,  yet  all  teaching  the  same  lesson; 
tlie  hypothesis  is  speculation  merely,  springing  from  a  few 
11* 


126  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

supposed  facts,  half  buried  in  fog  and  twilight.  Which  shall 
we  adopt  ?  Philosophy  cries  out,  responsive  to  the  voice  of 
nature,  It  is  God,  and  not  mere  law ;  an  infinitely  wise  and 
powerful  God,  the  God  who  doeth  wonders,  whose  miraculous 
interpositions  are  recorded  in  the  volume  of  nature,  as  well 
as  in  the  volume  of  revelation. 

Finally,  this  subject  identifies  the  God  of  nature  with  the 
God  of  revelation.  We  greatly  mistake  the  general  senti 
ments  of  mankind,  if  they  do  not  feel  that  the  Deity  recog 
nized  by  science,  is  a  quite  different  being  from  the  Jehovah 
of  the  Scriptures.  The  first  is  regarded,  indeed,  as  infinitely 
perfect,  but  as  distant  and  uninterested  in  human  affairs, 
binding  the  iron  chain  of  law  around  all  created  things.  But 
the  God  of  revelation  is  an  infinite  Father,  who  is  ever  near 
his  children,  watching  their  every  step,  with  an  ear  ever  open 
and  quick  to  hear  their  cry  for  help,  and  with  a  heart  of 
boundless  lave  to  sympathize  with  them  in  all  their  trials.  It 
is  these  different  aspects  in  which  the  Deity  is  presented,  that 
makes  the  religious  man  jealous  of  those  views  of  theology 
which  science  offers ;  and  it  is  because  he  does  not  wish  to 
feel  that  God  is  so  near,  and  so  observant  of  his  actions  and 
thoughts,  that  often  the  scientific  man  is  disgusted  with  the 
God  of  revelation.  But  this  subject  shows  us  the  same  God 
in  both  dispensations.  He  who  so  often  interposed  mirac 
ulously  for  his  ancient  chosen  people,  and  providentially,  at 
least,  for  the  followers  of  Christ  in  every  age,  —  that  same 
God,  as  modern  science  informs  us,  has  shown  the  same 
watchful  care  over  the  material  creation  in  all  ages,  and 
specially  interposed,  whenever  necessary,  for  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  all  sentient  beings.  And  herein  does  the  pious 
heart  recognize  in  the  God  whose  glory  is  seen  in  the  heavens, 
and  who  has  filled  this  lower  world  with  beauty,  the  same 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  1'27 

infinite  Father,  whose  wisdom  and  mercy  shine  so  gloriously 
in  the  plan  of  redemption. 

If  these  views  be  correct,  do  they  not  give  to  the  works  of 
creation  a  double  charm  to  the  Christian  heart  ?     And  do  they 
not  suggest  the  inquiry,  whether  those  who  preach  the   gospel 
might  not  make  much  more  use  than  they  do  of  natural  reli 
gion  ?     If  we   mistake  not,  there  is  a  prevalent  jealousy  of 
facts  and  principles  derived  from  nature  ;  just  because  those 
facts  have  been  sometimes  perverted  to  throw  discredit  upon 
revelation.     But  we  have  long  been  satisfied  that,  from  the 
fields  of  natural  science,  efficient  support  may  be  derived  to 
some  of  the  peculiar,  and  to  the  carnal   mind  the  most  offen 
sive,  doctrines  of  revelation.      We  have  brought  forward,  in 
this  article,  only  a  single  cluster  of  the  fruit  from  that  field. 
But  other  and  richer  clusters,  we  doubt  not,  would  reward  the 
search  of  abler  minds.     See  what  such  men  as  Chalmers  and 
Harris  have  done  ;  and  let  all,  who  now  preach  or  who  mean 
to  preach   the  gospel,  follow  in  their  steps,  and  we  doubt  not 
that  Christians,  instead  of  being  fearful  that  science  and  rev 
elation  are  in  conflict,  would  find  that  they  sustain  and  illus 
trate  each  other,  and  that  the  heart  of  piety  might  be  warmed 
at  the  shrine  of  nature,  as  well  as  at  the  cross;  for,  in  an  im 
portant  sense,  the  cross  may  be  found  in  nature,  and  nature 
in  the  cross. 

But,  after  all,  the  tendency  of  the  age  is  to-  substitute  that 
which  is  artificial  for  that  which  is  natural.  Hence  it  is,  that 
the  Christian  passes  with  indifference  the  works  of  God, 
while  his  soul  rouses  and  his  eye  brightens  when  it  turns  to 
the  works  of  man.  O,  what  a  magnificent  temple  it  is  which 
Jehovah  has  made  our  dwelling  place  !  It  is  a  vast  whisper 
ing  gallery,  echoing  and  reechoing  with  his  name  and  his 
praise.  How  much  do  they  lose  who  always  have  its  vast 


* 
128 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 


dome  above  them,  and  its  lofty  columns  around  them,  and  yet 
hear  none  of  those  whispers  or  echoes,  nor  feel  any  of  the 
inspiration  of  the  place,  but  whose  supreme  attention  is  de 
voted  to  "  the  gewgaws  and  trinkets,  the  puppet  shows  and 
histrionic  feats,  which  fashion,  and  ambition,  and  sensuality 
have  surreptitiously  introduced  there  !  "  How  insensible  to 
every  noble  impulse  has  his  heart  become  who  has  neither 
eye  nor  ear  for  the  charms  of  Nature  !  For  she  is  the  kind 
mother  of  us  all.  In  her  arms  were  we  cradled,  on  her 
bosom  were  we  nursed,  and  her  voice  falls  on  every  well- 
attuned  ear  like  the  music  of  heaven.  It  is  indeed  the  mu 
sic  of  heaven  ;  for  Nature's  harmonies  are  but  a  transcript  of 
the  divine  perfections,  and  her  voice  is,  therefore,  the  voice 
of  God. 

We  fear,  however,  that  such  sentiments  do  not  accord  with 
the  experience  of  most  Christians.  They  look  upon  the  sys 
tem  of  nature  as  a  field  well  adapted  to  regale  the  fancy, 
gratify  the  taste,  and  delightfully  exercise  the  understanding, 
but  not  to  warm  the  heart  and  feed  the  spiritual  taste  of  piety. 
Creation  is,  indeed,  a  splendid  temple,  but  it  is  cold  and  life 
less.  No  sacred  fire  burns  upon  the  altar ;  no  crucified 
Redeemer  is  there  to  fix  the  attention  and  absorb  the  affec 
tions  ;  no  Spirit  of  grace  speaks  gently  to  the  soul.  The 
religion  of  sentimentalism  may  flourish  by  communion  with 
nature ;  but  the  piety  that  saves  the  soul  and  blesses  the 
world  must  seek  for  its  nourishment  at  the  foot  of  the  cross. 

True,  it  is  at  the  cross  we  must  learn  how  to  be  saved,  and 
how  to  save  others.  But  because  we  cleave  with  supreme 
affection  to  the  God  of  redemption,  must  we  abjure  the  God 
of  nature  ?  If  it.  feed  our  devotion  to  muse  on  the  character 
of  that  God  who  devised  and  executed  the  marvellous  plan  of 
redemption  by  a  long  series  of  miracles  in  human  history, 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  129 

shall  it  afford  no  nourishment  to  our  new-born  nature  to  find 
that  the  Author  of  this  vast  universe  has  interposed,  in  a  no 
less  special  and  wonderful  manner,  to  fit  up  this  world  that  it 
might  become  a  proper  theatre  for  the  display  of  redeeming 
love  ?  Is  there  not  something  wrong  in  our  hearts,  if  we  do 
not  recognize  the  same  wonder-working,  beneficent  God  in 
the  natural  as  in  the  moral  world  ?  Creation  and  redemption 
are  but  parts  of  one  great  system,  and  we  may  not  disjoin 
what  God  has  united ;  neither  may  we  depreciate  one  part  of 
the  scheme  in  order  to  exalt  thp  other.  We  will  try  to  unite 
them  in  our  experience,  as  well  as  in  our  judgment.  Then 
shall  we  see  the  same  great  truths  imprinted  upon  nature 
which  shine  forth  in  redemption.  Then  shall  all  our  com 
munion  with  nature  serve  only  to  strengthen  our  love  of  the 
cross,  while  the  more  powerfully  we  are  constrained  by  the 
love  of  Christ,  the  more  delightfully  and  profitably  shall  we 
wander  among  the  works  of  God.  O,  how  meagre  is  his  en 
joyment  of  creation's  beauties  who  looks  at  them  with  only 
the  eye  of  the  cold,  calculating  philosopher,  or  the  mere  en 
thusiasm  of  the  poet,  but  not  with  a  Christian's  heart !  It  is 
only  such  a  heart  that  can  vivify  the  scenes  of  the  natural 
world  with  the  presence  of  God.  Nature  has  charms,  in 
deed,  for  the  mere  man  of  taste,  and  of  philosophy.  But  it 
is  not  till  we  bring  in  the  religious  element,  that  the  affection 
becomes  such  as  God  would  have  it,  a  pure  and  a  sanctifying 
emotion. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  such  a  love  as  this  should  be  a  deep 
fountain  of  happiness  in  every  condition  of  life.  It  does  not, 
like  almost  all  earthly  affections,  become  weaker  with  ad 
vancing  life,  when  the  pressure  of  cares,  disappointments,  and 
the  infirmities  of  old  age  come  upon  us.  The  man  may  be 
come  weary  of  the  world,  and  be  deserted  by  it.  Feeble 


130  SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE. 

health  may  infuse  wormwood  into  the  common  pleasures  of 
life  ;  treachery  and  ingratitude  may  convert  professed  friends 
into  enemies,  and  pierce  his  heart  with  many  a  pang ;  and 
old  age,  with  its  failing  senses  and  failing  powers,  may  deaden 
his  sensibilities  to  almost  every  thing  else  ;  but  if  in  early  life 
a  religious  love  of  nature  has  taken  possession  of  his  soul,  he 
will  ever  find  it  a  sweet  solace  in  the  hour  of  desertion  and 
bereavement;  and,  even  amid  the  frosts  of  old  age,  the  sacred 
flame,  less  bright  only  than  his  immortal  hopes,  shall  spread  a 
sweet  light  along  his  dark  passage  to  the  grave. 

Such  a  view  of  nature  as  this  was  taken  by  the  writers  of 
the  Bible.  The  labored  distinctions  which  we  make  between 
common  and  miraculous  events  were  unknown  to  them.  In 
every  event  they  saw  and  joyfully  recognized  God's  hand  ; 
and  hence  it  so  often  happens  that  the  sentence  which  begins 
with  praise  to  the  God  of  nature  ends  with  ascriptions  of 
glory  to  the  Redeemer. 

Nor  is  this  all ;  for  these  same  views  of  this  subject  are 
taken  in  heaven.  For  the  redeemed  from  among  men,  as 
they  stand  upon  the  sea  of  glass,  and  sing  the  song  of  Moses 
and  the  Lamb,  exclaim,  "  Great  and  marvellous  are  thy 
works,  Lord  God  Almighty"  Yet  these  ransomed  ones  are 
ever  ready  to  join  in  what  seems  the  common  chorus  of 
heaven  :  "  Blessing,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  power  be  unto 
Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  forever 
and  ever."  In  heaven,  therefore,  at  least,  will  the  God  whom 
science  describes  be  identified  with  the  God  of  redemption. 
Would  that  it  were  so  on  earth  !  It  will  be,  when  educated 
men,  especially  ministers  of  the  gospel,  shall  have  fully  de 
veloped  the  harmonies  between  nature  and  revelation.  Here, 
then,  is  an  object,  second  only  to  that  of  the  personal  salva 
tion  of  men,  inviting  the  labors  of  those  who  go  forth,  after 


SPECIAL    DIVINE    INTERPOSITIONS    IN    NATURE.  131 

long  years  of  preparation,  from  our  theological  seminaries, 
burning  with  the  desire  to  do  what  they  can  for  the  good  of 
man  and  the  glory  of  God.  The  field  is  open  and  inviting, 
and  the  ripening  grain  abundant.  May  those  who  take  the 
sickle  have  a  large  share  in  so  noble  a  work,  and  late  in  life 
return,  /bringing  their  sheaves  with  them. 


THE  WONDERS  OF  SCIENCE  COMPARED  WITH 
THE  WONDERS  OF  ROMANCE. 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  The  whole  number  of  works, 
original  and  reprinted,  that  were  published  in  the  United 
States  during  the  year  ending  with  June,  1834,  was  623.  Of 
these,  126,  or  about  one  fifth,  were  novels  and  tales.  In 
Great  Britain,  1112  works  were  published  in  the  year  1833  ; 
of  which  71,  or  about  one  fifteenth,  were  novels  and  tales. 
In  France,  during  the  same  year,  7011  works  were  issued  ; 
of  which  355,  or  about  one  twentieth,  were  novels  and  tales. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  a  complete  correspondent 
statement  for  any  year  subsequent  to  1834.  The  following 
numbers,  however,  from  the  American  Publishers'  Circular 
for  April,  1856,  show  a  great  increase  of  works  of  fiction. 
"  In  all  departments,  except  that  of  fiction,"  says  Mr.  Norton, 
"  there  were  published  in  this  country,  in  the  year  1855, 
about  800  different  works ;  adding  for  the  new  and  old  novels 
that  owed  birth  or  resuscitation  to  this  year,  the  new  issues 
will  reach,  in  round  numbers,  to  two  thousand"  This  makes 
the  works  of  fiction  three  fifths  of  the  whole. 

These  numbers  afford  some  criterion  of  the  taste  of  the 
reading  part  of  the  community  in  the  countries  specified. 
And  what  I  wish  particularly  to  be  noticed  at  this  time  is,  the 
much  greater  demand  in  this  country  for  works  of  fiction 

(132) 


THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    AND    ROMANCE.  133 

than  in  (ircat  Britain  or  France.  Were  I  to  include  poetry 
in  the  list,  however,  it  would  swell  the  works  of  imagination 
in  France  to  one  ninth  of  the  whole,  and  in  Great  Britain  to 
one  seventh ;  while  the  poems  published  in  this  country  during 
the  same  time  were  not  numerous  enough  to  alter  the  propor 
tion  above  stated.  But  it  is  to  novels  and  tales  that  I  wish  to 
confine  my  attention.  For  very  few  of  the  injurious  effects 
supposed  to  result  from  romances  can  be  charged  upon  poe 
try,  especially  if  it  be  not  read  in  connection  with  romances. 

I  think  I  may  safely  draw  the  inference,  from  the  facts 
stated,  that  our  countrymen  show  a  very  strong  predilection 
for  a  light  and  fictitious  literature.  And  I  might  add  other 
evidence,  were  it  needful.  It  would  be  shown  in  the  register 
of  every  circulating  library,  as  it  is  in  almost  every  public 
original  exhibition  in  the  college  and  the  academy.  Young 
men,  in  such  a  case,  will  select  those  subjects  in  which  they 
feel  the  most  interest ;  and  how  much  more  common  is  it,  on 
such  occasions,  to  hear  discussed  the  character  and  merits  of 
writers  who  address  chiefly  the  fancy,  than  those  who  develop 
the  substantial  principles  of  accurate  science  and  philosophy ! 
It  is  seen,  also,  in  the  character  of  a  large  part  of  our  peri 
odicals,  which  their  editors  scarcely  dare  send  forth  to  the 
public,  if  not  set  off  with  one  or  two  original  tales.  Except 
ing  a  few  business  newspapers  in  our  larger  towns,  most  of 
our  hebdomadals  also  must  be  adapted  in  the  same  way  to  the 
public  taste  ;  and  the  amorous  story  often  stands  in  singular  jux 
taposition  with  the  solemn  realities  of  practical  religion  in  the 
adjoining  column.  But  the  taste  of  all  classes  must  be  suited.* 

*  Yet  it  would  be  but  an  act  of  justice  to  readers  that  the  motto  for  such 
newspapers  should  be,  in  the  words  of  Burns,  — 

"  Perhaps  it  may  turn  out  a  song, 
Perhaps  turn  out  a  sermon." 

12 


134  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

And  last,  though  not  least,  our  religious  literature  must  be 
clothed  in  the  drapery  of  fiction,  or  it  will  be  passed  by  as 
old-fashioned  and  uninteresting ;  while  the  latest  religious 
romance  will  be  seen  occupying  a  conspicuous  place  upon  the 
centre  table.  Nor  will  the  devoted  Christian  —  devoted,  at 
least,  to  this  kind  of  reading —  suffer  sleep  to  close  his  eyes, 
till  it  has  been  read  through,  and  the  enchanting  story,  if 
not  the  religion  of  the  book,  is  deeply  lodged  in  his  memory. 
But  it  is  not  my  object  at  this  time  to  go  into  a  detailed 
exposure  of  the  evils  of  novel  reading.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that 
when  the  father  learns  that  his  son,  who  is  in  a  course  of 
public  education,  has  become  devoted  to  this  kind  of  literature, 
he  abandons  the  hope  that  he  will  ever  rise  higher  as  a  scholar 
than  to  become  a  writer  of  tales  for  some  newspaper  or  peri 
odical,  or  possibly  the  author  of  a  play,  that  shall  at  least 
once  appear  upon*  the  boards  of  Thespis.  Or  if  his  son  be 
destined  for  business,  instead  of  learning,  the  father  expects 
that  remissness  and  effeminacy  will  take  the  place  of  manly 
enterprise  and  success.  The  mother,  too,  who  finds  her 
daughter,  in  spite  of  all  her  warnings  and  rebukes,  given  up 
to  secret  midnight  communings  with  the  latest  romance, 
almost  abandons  the  hope  of  ever  interesting  her  in  those 
domestic  pursuits  that  have  always  been  the  glory  of  New 
England  women,  or  even  in  the  higher  and  purer  branches  of 
literature.  Indeed,  she  will  be  thankful  if  her  daughter,  in 
the  ebullition  of  some  glowing  fancy  scene,  does  not  evapo 
rate  into  ether,  and  pass  into  that  place  described  by  Milton, — 

"  —    —All  these,  upwhirled  aloft, 
Flew  o'er  the  back  side  of  the  world,  far  off, 
Into  a  limbo,  large  and  wide,  since  called 
The  Paradise  of  Fools  :  —  to  few  unknown 
Long  after."  — 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  135 

But  I  forbear  :  for  I  repeat  that  I  have  no  intention  of  mak 
ing  a  direct  attack  upon  the  passion  for  romance  that  has  taken 
so  deep  a  hold  upon  the  community  ;  and  I  beg  pardon  if  any 
should  be  led,  from  my  remarks,  to  fear  a  transmigration  into 
the  limbo  of  Milton.  I  wish  to  look  at  the  fact,  that  so  gen 
eral  a  taste  for  romance  exists,  with  the  eye  of  a  philosopher  ; 
and  to  inquire  what  that  strong,  deep-rooted  principle  of  hu 
man  nature  is,  that  lies  at  the  foundation  of  this  taste.  And 
although  I  doubt  not  that  some  are  attached  to  romances  be 
cause  their  baser  passions  there  find  fuel  to  inflame  them,  yet 
I  prefer  to  believe,  in  general,  that  this  taste  has  a  nobler 
origin,  and  results  from  that  strong  love  for  whatever  is  new 
and  wonderful,  which  is  found  in  every  human  bosom,  —  es 
pecially  in  the  morning  of  life.  That  desire  was  given  us  for 
wise  purposes.  Whenever  it  is  suffered  to  waste  itself  upon 
fiction,  it  is  perverted  ;  and  what  was  intended  for  our  happi 
ness  becomes  our  bane.  God  has  filled  this  beautiful  world 
with  enough  of  thrilling  realities  to  feed  and  gratify  this  pas 
sion  to  the  utmost,  through  the  whole  course  of  our  pilgrim 
age.  Passing  by  all  other  sources  whence  it  may  receive 
gratification,  I  request  the  attention  of  this  audience  —  es 
pecially  the  youthful  part  of  it  —  to  some  of  the  wonders 
developed  by  modern  science.  My  object  is  to  convince  my 
hearers,  that  here  is  a  far  wider  and  nobler  field,  and  a  pro 
fusion  of  more  delicious  fruit,  and  sparkling  gems,  than  fiction 
can  offer.  My  hope  is,  that  I  may  thus  divert  the  attention 
of  some  who  have  begun  to  sip  of  the  Circsean  cup  of  ro 
mance,  to  the  pure  Castalian  fountains  of  science,  where  the 
sparkling  nectar  of  truth  rises  up  to  meet  them. 

But  in  exhibiting  the  wonders  of  science,  where  shall  I 
begin  ?  The  field  is  immense  :  it  is  the  universe  ;  and  it 
is  all  filled  up  with  wonders  ;  and  the  more  critically  these 


136  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

are  examined,  the  more  do  they  multiply  and  enlarge.  It 
must  be,  therefore,  only  a  glance  that  we  can  now  take.  I 
feel  like  the  man  who  has  undertaken  to  exhibit  in  one  short 
hour  th«  mazes  and  the  beauties  of  an  extensive  series  of 
gardens  and  parks,  where  the  labor  of  centuries  has  been 
expended  in  collecting,  arranging,  and  ornamenting  the  fruits 
and  the  flowers  of  every  clime,  and.  in  forming  every  variety 
of  alley,  terrace,  and  arbor,  of  cascade,  lake,  and  fountain. 
The  conductor,  as  he  hurries  his  visitors  through  one  enchant 
ing  and  mazy  spot  after  another,  can  only  pluck  here  and 
there  a  flower,  or  point  to  the  clustering  fruit,  or  to  some 
charming  landscape.  This  is  all  I  can  hope  to  do,  as  we 
move  at  railroad  speed  through  the  wide  fields  of  science. 

I  begin  with  the  science  of  mind,  which,  although  abound 
ing  in  unprofitable  speculation,  still  presents  us  with  many 
important  and  wonderful  truths.  There  is  reason  to  believe, 
for  instance,  that  no  idea  which  ever  existed  in  the  mind 
can  be  lost.  It  may  seem  to  ourselves  to  be  gone,  since  we 
have  no  power  to  recall  it ;  as  is  the  case  with  the  vast  ma 
jority  of  our  thoughts.  But  numerous  facts  show  that  it 
needs  only  some  change  in  our  physical  or  intellectual  con 
dition  to  restore  the  long-lost  impression.  A  servant  girl, 
for  instance,  twenty-four  years  old,  who  could  neither  read 
nor  write,  in  the  paroxysms  of  a  fever,  commenced  repeating 
fluently  and  pompously  passages  of  Latin,  Greek,  and  He 
brew  ;  and  it  afterwards  appeared,  that  in  her  early  days  a 
learned  clergyman,  with  whom  she  lived,  had  been  in  the  daily 
habit  of  walking  through  a  passage  in  his  house  that  opened 
into  the  kitchen,  and  repeating  aloud  the  very  passages  which 
she  uttered  during  her  fever.  How  many  interesting  infer 
ences  crowd  upon  the  mind  in  view  of  such  facts !  What  an 
amazing  power  do  they  prove  to  exist  in  the  soul !  And  what 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  137 

astonishing  developments  will  be  made  in  this  world  or  an 
other,  when  the  vast  magazine  of  thoughts  within  us  shall  be 
unsealed  !  And  who  can  avoid  the  inquiry,  what  kind  of 
thoughts  he  is  daily  pouring  into  this  storehouse  ! 

The  capacity  of  the  human  mind  for  knowledge  is  another 
of  its  wonderful  powers.  By  every  accession  of  knowledge 
is  that  capacity  enlarged  ;  nor  have  the  limits  of  that  expan 
sion  ever  been  reached,  or  imagined.  Indeed,  the  nature  of 
the  mind  leads  us  to  the  conclusion  that  there  are  no  limits. 
And  it  has  already  been  shown  that  whatever  knowledge  the 
mind  acquires  it  can  never  lose.  What  a  magnificent  con 
ception,  to  attempt  to  follow  the  mind  along  the  path  of  its 
immortal  existence,  and  to  see  it  forever  drinking  in  the  stream 
of  knowledge,  whereby  it  constantly  accumulates  strength,  and 
has  the  sphere  of  its  capacity  enlarged,  yet  remaining  eter 
nally  infinitely  inferior  to  the  Deity  !  Yet  who  can  conceive 
of  the  vast  amount  of  knowledge  it  will  ultimately  attain,  or 
its  more  than  angelic  intellectual  might  ? 

No  less  wonderful  is  man's  capacity  for  happiness.  Here 
too  we  find  no  limits  but  infinity.  The  happy  emotions  of  to 
day  only  qualify  the  soul  for  stronger  emotions  to-morrow, 
provided  all  the  strings  of  the  delicate  instrument  are  in  tune. 
Nor  is  the  increase  in  an  arithmetical,  but  in  a  geometrical 
ratio.  Who  shall  set  limits  to  the  expanding  series  ?  or  who 
will  doubt  but  God  can  fill  to  overflowing  the  most  enlarged 
capacity  through  eternal  ages  ? 

Alike  unlimited  is  man's  capacity  for  misery.  In  this  world 
his  sufferings  sometimes  rise  to  a  fearful  height.  Nor  can  we 
discover  in  the  nature  of  mind  any  reason  why  an  increase 
of  knowledge  should  not  add  a  proportionate  intensity  to  suf 
fering.  Who  can  tell  what  fountains  of  misery  may  be  broken 
up,  or  when,  in  the  round  of  eternal  ages,  the  angry  billows 


138  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

shall  cease  to  roll  over  the  soul  that  has  broken  loose  from 
the  great  law  of  rectitude  and  happiness  ?  O,  it  is  not  strange 
that  an  inspired  writer  should  declare,  that  man  is  not  only 
wonderfully  hut  fearfully  made.  His  unlimited  capacity  for 
misery  is  surely  a  most  fearful  trait  in  his  intellectual  consti 
tution. 

Not  less  fearful  is  the  supremacy  that  is  given  to  Conscience 
in  his  moral  nature,  especially  when  we  recollect  with  what 
unbending  severity  she  applies  her  scorpion  lash  upon  the 
soul  that  has  fallen  under  her  displeasure.  Yet  no  less 
promptly  does  her  approving  voice  cheer  the  soul  that  is 
struggling  along  the  strait  and  narrow  path  of  duty,  and  brings 
down  into  the  heart  the  spirit  of  heaven.  In  short,  to  the  mas 
tery  of  conscience  every  one  must  sooner  or  later  submit. 
Rightly  has  it  been  called  God's  vicegerent  in  the  soul  ;  and 
though  it  be  a  part  of  ourselves,  we  can  as  easily  annihilate 
the  soul  as  to  escape  from  its  dominion.  And  when  we  think 
how  terrible  are  its  inflictions  sometimes  upon  the  guilty,  and 
recollect  our  unlimited  capacity  for  misery,  we  cannot  but  in 
quire  with  solicitude  whether  its  commission  does  not  extend 
to  another  world  ;  and  though  an  affirmative  answer  may 
shock  the  ear  of  guilt,  it  will  make  the  heart  of  virtue  beat 
high  with  delightful  anticipations. 

Even  this  slight  reference  to  some  of  the  powers  of  the  hu 
man  soul  show  that  it  is  a  maze  of  wonders.  What  is  there 
in  the  boldest  flights  of  imagination  to  compare  with  it  ?  Here 
then  the  ingenuous  mind  can  find  enough  to  feed  its  strongest 
love  of  the  new  and  the  wonderful,  without  the  aid  of  ro 
mance. 

Another  department,  no  less  interesting,  is  mathematics. 
And  in  the  entire  certainty  of  its  conclusions  it  possesses  an 
advantage  over  every  other  branch  of  knowledge.  I  know 


WITH  THE  WONDERS  OF  ROMANCE.          139 

that  it  is  not  uncommon  to  speak  of  mathematics  as  a  dry 
study  ;  but  it  is  dry  only  for  the  reason  that  the  grapes  were 
sour  to  the  fox  —  because  he  could  not  reach  them.  The 
truth  is,  that  to  those  who  have  the  resolution  and  persever 
ance  to  master  its  noble  truths,  it  becomes  one  of  the  most 
fascinating  of  all  pursuits.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the 
higher  and  more  difficult  parts  of  the  subject  —  those  sublime 
heights  where  your  own  fellow-citizen,  the  prince  of  Amer 
ican  mathematicians,*  soared  so  high,  and  gathered  so  many 
laurels,  which  he  wreathed  around  the  very  cycles  of  the 
heavens.  It  is  said  that  he  who  has  the  strength  of  wing  to 
carry  him  fairly  into  the  ethereal  regions  of  the  differential 
calculus,  often  becomes  more  fascinated  than  men  in  any 
other  pursuit.  So  many  new  and  unthought-of  truths  flash 
upon  his  mind,  as  he  follows  the  golden  thread  of  demonstra 
tion,  that  he  seems  to  breathe  an  atmosphere  almost  freed 
from  the  grossness  of  earth.  In  such  pursuits^we  can  easily 
believe  the  English  mathematician  sincere  when  he  exclaimed, 
Crede  mihi,  extingui  dulce  erit  mathematicarum  artium  stu 
dio —  "Believe  me,  it  will  be  sweet  to  die  in  the  study  of 
mathematics." 

But  though  .mathematics  be  full  of  curious  and  fascinating 
truths,  yet  such  is  the  nature  of  the  subject  that  I  shall  scarce 
ly  be  able  to  clothe  even  one  fair  example  in  a  popular. dress. 
Let  me  attempt  one  or  two  founded  upon  the  doctrine  of 
infinitesimals.  To  one  who  has  not  thought  on  the  subject 
this  proposition  seems  not  a  little  paradoxical,  viz.,  that  a  man 
may  approach  nearer  and  nearer  to  a  fixed  object  eternally, 
and  yet  not  be  able  to  reach  it ;  yet  by  slackening  his  pace  in 
a  certain  ratio,  the  result  would  be  that  he  could  never  reach 

*  Dr.  Nathaniel  Bowditch,  formerly  a  resident  of  Salem,  where  this  lec 
ture  was  first  given. 


140  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

the  object,  although  he  might  make  an  infinitely  near  approach 
to  it. 

Another  proposition  may  be  new  to  some,  and  worthy  of 
being  named.  It  is  this  :  two  lines  may  approach  nearer 
and  nearer  forever  without  meeting,  —  the  asymptote  to  the 
hyperbole,  for  example.  This,  too,  is  very  easily  conceived, 
though  likely  to  produce  scepticism  when  first  announced. 

A  third  proposition  asserts  that  one  infinitesimal  may  be 
infinitely  smaller  than  another.  Here  the  mathematician  starts 
with  something  infinitely  small, —  for  that  is  the  meaning  of 
an  infinitesimal,  —  and  he  asserts  that  another  thing  may  be 
infinitely  smaller.  And  this  he  demonstrates.  How  stupid 
must  that  intellect  be  which  is  not  roused  and  interested  by 
such  paradoxes  ! 

The  science  of  moving  forces,  or  mechanics,  abounds  with 
principles  and  demonstrations  that  are  novel  and  striking  to 
the  beginner.  But  for  the  reasons  mentioned  in  speaking  of 
mathematics,  they  cannot  be  now  exhibited.  Perhaps  the  fol 
lowing  proposition  may  at  least  be  amusing,  although  it  can 
hardly  be  regarded  as  true,  except  theoretically.  Any  force, 
however  small,  can  put  in  motion  a  body  however  large,  and 
by  a  sufficient  number  of  repetitions,  give  it  a  velocity  infi 
nitely  great.  When,  for  instance,  a  man  stamps  with  his  foot, 
he  maves  the  earth  ;  and  could  he  prevent  the  reaction  of 
gravity,  and  were  to  continue  to  stamp  long  enough,  he  would 
not  only  put  the  earth  in  motion,  but  give  it  a  velocity  greater 
than  it  now  has  in  its  orbit.  But  the  TTOV  CTTW,  the  place  to 
stand  on,  which  Archimedes  demanded,  can  never  be  ob 
tained  ;  and  therefore  this  experiment  can  never  be  tried. 

The  mechanical  properties  of  fluids,  and  especially  of  the 
atmosphere,  are  some  of  them  of  a  remarkable  character. 
Light  and  yielding  as  we  regard  the  air,  what  but  experiment 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  141 

would  satisfy  us  that  a  musket  ball,  that  has  a  velocity  suf 
ficient  to  range  seventeen  miles  in  a  vacuum,  actually  falls 
short  of  half  a  mile  ;  and  that  so  rapidly  does  the  resistance 
increase  with  the  velocity,  that  it  would  become  at  length  so 
great  that  a  ball  would  be  stopped  as  if  fired  against  a  stone 
wall! 

Another  property  of  fluids  that  leads  to  some  singular  re 
sults  is  their  power  of  pressing  in  all  directions  alike.  Hence 
it  becomes  true  that  any  quantity  of  a  fluid,  however  small, 
will  balance  any  quantity,  however  large.  Hence  the  hydro 
static  bellows  ;  by  standing  on  which  and  blowing  forcibly 
into  a  tube,  a  man  may  raise  himself  from  the  floor  —  or  still 
more  certainly  by  pouring  into  that  tube  a  single  pint  of  wa 
ter.  Hence,  too,  by  inserting  a  tube,  not  more  than  the  tenth 
of  an  inch  in  diameter,  in  the  strongest  vessel  filled  with  wa 
ter,  and  then  making  the  tube  sufficiently  strong  and  pouring 
water  into  it,  the  vessel  may  be  burst ;  that  is,  the  weight  of 
a  single  quart  of  water  is  sufficient  to  burst  asunder  an  iron- 
bound  vessel.  Or  by  fitting  a  strong  piston  to  a  large  cylinder, 
the  powerful  machine  called  the  hydrostatic  press  is  formed, 
by  which  trees  are  torn  up  by  the  roots,  porous  bodies  aston 
ishingly  compressed,  and  enormous  weights  elevated. 

This  same  principle  (of  equal  pressure  in  all  directions) 
prevents  us  from  being  conscious  of  the  great  weight  of  the 
atmosphere.  Indeed,  we  are  not  aware  that  any  pressure  is 
upon  us  ;  and  unless  we  move  very  rapidly,  or  against  a  strong 
wind,  we  scarcely  realize  that  the  air  offers  any  resistance. 
Hence  a  man  unacquainted  with  pneumatics  can  hardly  be 
made  to  believe  that  every  square  inch  of  surface  upon  his 
body  does  in  fact  sustain  a  weight  of  fifteen  pounds,  and 
that  the  whole  weight  of  the  atmosphere  that  lies  upon  him  is 
not  less  than  fourteen  and  a  half  tons ;  while  the  whole  sur- 


142  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

face  of  the  earth  sustains  a  pressure  of  twelve  trillions  of 
pounds,  or  six  thousand  billions  of  tons. 

The  extent  to  which  matter  may  be  divided,  both  mechan 
ically  and  chemically,  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  wonders 
of  modern  science.  Little,  indeed,  is  said  at  this  day  respect 
ing  the  infinite  divisibility  of  matter ;  which,  if  theoretically 
possible,  is  now  generally  regarded  by  philosophers  as  in  re 
ality  untrue.  With  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  they  now  mostly  con 
sider  it  "  probable  that  God  in  the  beginning  formed  matter 
in  solid,  massy,  hard,  impenetrable,  movable  particles,  of  such 
sizes  and  figures,  and  with  such  other  properties,  and  in  such 
proportion  to  space,  as  most  conduced  to  the  end  for  which  he 
formed  them." 

These  ultimate  particles  are  called  atoms  ;  and  although 
none  of  them  have  ever  been  rendered  cognizable  by  the 
senses,  yet  it  can  be  shown  that  they  must  be  inconceivably 
small.  Gold  may  be  spread  over  silver  wire  so  thin  that 
fourteen  million  films  of  it  would  make  a  pile  only  one  inch 
thick ;  while  fourteen  million  films  of  common  writing  paper 
would  form  a  pile  three  quarters  of  a  mile  thick.  Gold  may 
be  beaten  so  thin  that  one  twenty  millionth  part  of  a  grain  is 
visible  to  the  naked  eye,  and  one  fourteen  hundred  millionth 
part  through  a  microscope.  Yet  in  each  of  these  fragments 
there  may  be,  for  aught  we  know,  millions  of  atoms.  A  cer 
tain  species  of  fungus,  (bovista  giganteum,)  has  been  known 
to  attain  the  size  of  a  gourd  in  one  night ;  and  it  is  calculated 
that  the  cellules,  of  which  it  is  composed,  must  amount  to 
47,000,000,000.  If  it  grew  in  twelve  hours,  this  would  give 
4,000,000,000  per  hour,  or  more  than  66,000,000  each  min 
ute.  Animalcules  have  been  discovered  so  small  that  1,000,- 
000  would  not  exceed  a  grain  of  sand,  and  500,000,000  could 
sport  in  a  drop  of  water.  Yet  each  of  these  must  have  blood- 


WITH  THE  WONDERS  OF  ROMANCE.          143 

vessels,  nerves,  muscles,  circulating  fluids,  &c.,  like  larger 
animals.  What,  then,  must  bo  the  almost  infinite  littleness 
of  a  particle  of  these  fluids !  Yet  chemical  solution  carries 
this  division  of  matter  probably  still  farther.  Thus  it  has 
been  demonstrated  that  an  atom  of  lead  must  weigh  less  than 
the  one  three  hundred  and  ten  thousand  millionth  part  of  a 
grain,  and  an  atom  of  sulphur  less  than  the  one  two  trillionth 
part  of  a  grain.  The  bulk  of  the  atom  of  lead  must  be  less  than 
the  eight  hundred  and  eighty-eight  trillionth  part  of  a  cubic 
inch.  But  it  seems  almost  useless  to  make  such  statements ; 
for  who  can  form  any  correct  idea  of  things  so  inconceivably 
minute  ?  * 

If,  however,  we  regard  light  as  a  material  substance,  results 
still  more  astonishing  follow.  It  can  be  shown  that,  in  such 
a  case,  the  particles  of  light  cannot  weigh  more  than  one 
million  millionth  part  of  a  grain ;  for  if  larger,  they  would 
destroy  the  organs  of  vision.f  On  the  same  principle,  it  has 
been  calculated  that  the  particles  of  light  that  flow  from  a 
candle  in  a  second  are  more  than  six  billion  times  as  many 
as  the  grains  of  sand  in  the  whole  earth,  if  each  cubic  inch 
contains  one  million. J  The  opinion  that  light  is  material, 
however,  has  given  place  to  what  is  called  the  undulatory 
theory.  This  supposes  the  .universe  to  be  filled  with  a  very 
subtle  elastic  fluid,  called  the  luminiferous  ether,  and  that  the 
vibrations  of  this  ether  communicate  the  impression  of  light 
to  the  eye  just  as  the  vibrations  of  the  air  convey  to  the  ear 
the  idea  of  sound.  But,  upon  this  hypothesis,  the  inferences 
are  no  less  wonderful  than  upon  the  supposition  that  light  is 
material.  It  is  a  demonstrated  fact,  for  instance,  that  light 
moves  at  the  rate  of  nearly  200,000  miles  (192,500)  per 

*  Prout's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  36. 
f  Turner's  Sacred  History,  Vol.  I.  p.  24. 
J  Ferguson's  Lectures,  Vol.  I.  p.  228. 


144  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

second ;  and  who  can  conceive  of  vibrations  spreading  on  all 
sides  of  a  luminous  body  with  such  a  velocity  ?  Take,  for  an 
example,  one  of  the  fixed  stars.  Astronomers  have  demon 
strated  that  the  distance  of  the  nearest  star  cannot  be  less 
than  twenty  billions  of  miles,  while  stars  of  smaller  mag 
nitude  must  be  situated  at  a  distance  immensely  greater. 
Now,  it  has  been  shown  by  Dr.  Wollaston  that  the  light  of 
Sirius  is  only  one  twelve  thousand  millionth  part  (11,839,- 
530,000)  as  great  as  the  light  of  the  sun  ;  and  the  light  of 
the  star  Vega,  of  much  smaller  magnitude,  is  180  millions  of 
times  less  than  that  of  the  sun.  Yet,  if  the  eyes  of  the  ten 
thousand  millions  of  animals  on  the  globe  were  all  turned 
towards  this  star  at  the  same  instant,  each  one  would  have  a 
distinct  image  of  it  formed  upon  the  retina.  And  if  the  mil 
lions  of  millions  of  other  worlds,  scattered  through  space,  are 
peopled  as  thickly  as  our  own,  and  every  eye  there  were 
directed  to  that  star  at  the  same  time,  each  eye  would  see  it 
as  distinctly  as  if  no  other  one  were  gazing  upon  it.  What 
an  astonishing  power,  then,  is  light !  Who  does  not  feel  him 
self  lost  in  attempting  to  comprehend  its  nature  ! 

But,  still  further,  philosophers  suppose  they  have  demon 
strated  that  the  different  colors  in  nature  are  produced  by  a 
difference  in  the  number  of  vibrations  in  the  luminiferous 
ether,  and  that,  in  a  single  second  of  time,  the  eye  is  affected 
by  these  movements  as  follows  :  — 

In  red,    .  .  477,000,000,000  of  times  ; 

In  orange,  .  506,000,000,000  of  times  ; 

In  yellow,  .  535,000,000,000  of  times  ; 

In  green,  .  577,000,000,000  of  times  ; 

In  blue,  .  .  622,000,000,000  of  times  ; 

In  indigo,  .  658,000,000,000  of  times  ; 

In  violet,  .  699,000,000,000  of  times. 


TVITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  145 

Is  it  strange  that  man  looks  upon  light  with  an  awe  ap 
proaching  devotion,  arid  that  Milton  should  exclaim,  — 

"  Hail,  holy  light !  offspring  of  Heaven,  first  born, 
Or  of  the  eternal,  coeternal  beam  "  ? 

I  will  only  add,  in  this  connection,  a  statement  of  La  Place 
respecting  attraction  :  "  I  have  ascertained,"  says  he,  "  that 
between  the  heavenly  bodies  all  attractions  are  transmitted 
with  a  velocity  which,  if  it  be  not  infinite,  surpasses  several 
thousand  times  the  velocity  of  light."  His  annotator  esti 
mates  it  as  eight  million  of  times  greater  than  that  of  light. 

Were  there  time  for  the  details,  the  science  of  optics  would 
furnish  many  other  illustrations  appropriate  to  my  object  — 
such  as  the  diffraction  of  light,  the  splendid  colors  of  their 
films,  and  the  phenomena  of  polarization  and  double  refrac 
tion.  But  I  must  hurry  forward.  Nor  can  we  be  long  de 
tained  even  upon  the  sublime  developments  of  astronomy. 
Since  the  most  common  and  striking  of  these  have  been  so 
often  and  familiarly  described  in  public  lectures,  and  even  in 
the  primary  school  manual,  I  shall  confine  my  remarks  to 
some  principles  that  are  less  generally  known,  or  to  recent 
discoveries. 

I  have  always  regarded  it  as  one  of  the  greatest  achieve 
ments  of  astronomers  that  they  have  been  able  to  weigh  the 
bodies  of  the  solar  system,  so  as  to  state  how  many  pounds 
avoirdupois  they  contain,  and  to  ascertain  their  relative  weight 
compared  with  that  of  water.  It  is  certain,  for  instance,  that 
the  mass  of  Jupiter  is  more  than  322,  and  less  than  323, 
times  the  mass  of  this  globe  —  so  accurately  has  this  work 
been  accomplished.  The  mass  of  the  sun  is  359,551  times 
greater  than  that  of  the  earth  and  moon,  and  700  times 
greater  than  the  united  masses  of  all  the  planets.  The 
13 


146  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

weight  of  the  most  important  bodies  of  the  solar  system,  com 
pared  with  water,  is  as  follows  :  — 

Sun,.     .  .     1.40  Mars,     .  .  0.71 

Moon,    .  .     3.37  Jupiter,.  .  1.42 

Mercury,  .   15.24  Saturn,  .  .  0.56 

Venus,  .  .     5.15  Uranus,  .  1.53 

Earth,    .  .     5.48 

From  this  statement  we  learn  that  Saturn  is  composed  of 
matter  only  half  as  heavy  as  water;  while  Mercury  is  consid 
erably  heavier  than  quicksilver,  and  a  third  heavier  than  lead. 
Our  own  globe,  also,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  twice  as  heavy  as 
common  rock,  and  half  as  heavy  as  lead — a  fact  which 
shows  the  great  density  of  its  internal  parts. 

The  disturbances  that  take  place  among  the  heavenly 
bodies  in  consequence  of  their  mutual  attraction  constitute 
a  branch  of  knowledge  the  most  profound,  it  is  said,  in  the 
whole  circle  of  human  science  —  requiring  all  the  aid  of  the 
most  difficult  and  subtle  mathematical  analysis.  In  this  field 
such  men  as  Newton  and  La  Grange,  La  Place  and  Bowditch, 
have  won  their  noblest  honors  ;  and  I  may  add,  it  is  only 
such  minds  that  can  disentangle  the  mazes  of  this  labyrinth. 
The  problem  to  be  solved  was  this  :  given  the  directions  and 
velocities  of  about  thirty  mutually-attracting  bodies,  to  find 
their  places  after  any  number  of  ages.  And  to  give  some 
idea  of  the  complexity  of  the  problem,  it  may  be  stated  that 
one  of  these  bodies,  the  moon,  is  subject  to  no  less  than  sixty 
perturbations  in  her  longitude.  And  to  show  how  successful 
astronomers  have  been  in  estimating  these,  it  may  be  stated 
that  the  lunar  tables  actually  contain  twenty-eight  corrections, 
or  equations,  to  be  applied  to  her  mean  place  to  obtain  her 
true  place ;  and  the  result  never  varies  from  the  truth  more 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  147 

than  five  seconds  of  a  degree.  But  the  most  interesting  re 
sult  to  which  these  investigations  have  led  is  the  great  truth, 
that,  in  spite  of  these  perturbations,  the  permanence  of  the 
solar  system  is  secured  ;  nay,  that  these  very  disturbances 
are  the  means  of  preserving  it  from  ruin.  Formerly,  astron 
omers  thought  they  saw  in  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bod 
ies  a  tendency  to  ruin.  The  moon,  for  instance,  has  been  for 
thousands  of  years  coming  nearer  and  nearer  the  earth  in 
every  revolution  ;  and  the  eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit  lias 
been  diminishing,  as  has  also  the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic  to 
the  equator.  But  it  is  now  shown  that  all  these  irregularities 
are  periodical ;  and  that  after  having  proceeded  in  one  direc 
tion  for  a  time, —  it  may  be  for  hundreds,  or  thousands,  or 
even  millions  of  years,  —  they  will  reach  a  limit  which  they 
cannot  pass,  and  oscillate  in  the  opposite  direction ;  and  the 
limits  of  oscillation  are  too  narrow  seriously  to  affect  the  sta 
bility  of  the  system  or  the  comfort  of  its  inhabitants.  This 
demonstration,  first  wrought  out  by  La  Grange  and  La  Place, 
and  afterwards  corrected  by  Bowditch,  is  one  of  the  proudest 
achievements  of  modern  science,  and  proves  that  our  system, 
in  itself  considered,  is  eternal. 

But  a  question  has  long  been  agitated  whether  all  space  is 
not  occupied  with  very  thin  and  subtle  matter,  which  must 
offer  a  resistance  to  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and 
bring  the  system  to  ruin  at  last.  And  modern  astronomical 
discoveries  seem  nearly  to  have  settled  this  question  in  the 
affirmative.  The  universal  diffusion  of  light,  heat,  and  elec 
tricity,  especially  if  the  undulatory  theory  of  light  be  true, 
render  such  an  opinion  probable.  But  the  observations  that 
have  been  made  upon  what  is  called  Encke's  comet,  which 
revolves  round  the  sun  in  three  arid  a  half  years,  make  it 
almost  certain  that  this  medium  does  exist.  That  comet, 


148  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

being  nothing  but  a  mass  of  thin  vapor,  is  retarded  much 
more  than  the  planets,  which  are  solid,  and  has  actually  ad 
vanced  in  its  orbit,  since  its  discovery,  ten  days  more  than 
can  be  explained  by  the  laws  of  gravity,  exclusive  of  a 
resisting  medium.  Some  thirty  thousand  years  will  elapse 
before  it  will  fall  into  the  sun,  and  many  millions  of  years 
before  the  same  cause  would,  precipitate  the  planets  to  the 
centre  ;  but  it  is  an  interesting  conclusion  that,  ultimately  and 
inevitably,  if  such  a  cause  exist,  ruin  must  ensue. 

Modern  discoveries  respecting  the  nature  of  comets  in  gen 
eral  open  a  wide  field  for  the  play  of  the  imagination.  It 
seems  now  to  be  proved  that  nearly  all  of  them  (say,  perhaps, 
800)  are  nothing  but  thin  vapor ;  for  the  fixed  stars  are  visi 
ble  directly  through  their  centres.  They  must,  of  course,  be 
far  less  dense  than  the  thinnest  cloud.  And  yet  these  bodies 
move  round  the  sun  in  obedience  to  the  same  laws  as  the 
planets,  though  liable  to  greater  irregularities.  The  trains 
which  accompany  them,  and  which  are  sometimes,  as  in  the 
comet  of  1811,  more  than  130  millions  of  miles  long,  are 
evidently  produced  by  the  action  of  the  sun,  but  in  what  way 
it  seems  difficult  to  conceive.  In  all  ages,  great  anxiety  has 
been  manifested  lest  a  collision  should  take  place  between  the 
earth  and  one  of  these  bodies.  But  the  knowledge  we  now 
have  of  their  nature  teaches  us  that,  even  should  one  of  them 
be  encountered  in  the  earth's  annual  circuit,  it  is  not  probable 
that  matter  so  tenuous  could  pass  through  the  atmosphere, 
and  that  the  only  effect  of  such  an  occurrence  would  be  some 
slight  meteorological  change,  or  perhaps,  as  one  of  our  coun 
trymen  suggests,  who  has  distinguished  himself  by  attention 
to  this  and  kindred  subjects,  another  splendid  meteoric  shower 
might  signalize  the  event.* 

*  Olmsted's  Astronomy,  p.  242. 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  149 

The  comet  called  Biela's,  from  its  discoverer,  which  re 
volves  around  the  sun  in  about  seven  years,  in  one  of  its  recent 
returns,  divided  into  two  parts,  which  moved  on  together, 
with  no  apparent  mutual  influence.  This  fact  proves,  if 
proof  were  wanting,  the  extreme  tenuity  of  the  matter.  The 
parts  move  along  together  just  like  two  wreaths  of  smoke  or 
vapor,  and  have  occupied  the  same  relative  position  for  at  least 
one  revolution,  except  that  they  are  receding  from  each  other. 

So  successful  have  Lord  Rosse  and  others  been  in  resolv 
ing  nebulae,  of  late,  that  some  astronomers  are  confident  that 
all  of  them  will  be  found,  at  length,  to  consist  of  stars.  But 
such  masses  as  the  Magellanic  Clouds  of  the  southern  hemi 
sphere,  and  especially  the  facts  respecting  spiral  nebulae,  make 
it  more  probable  that  some  of  them  consist  rather  of  diffused 
patches  of  self-luminous  vapor,  analogous  to  comets.  On  the 
hypothesis  that  they  are  made  up  of  fixed  stars,  it  is  quite 
impossible  to  account  for  their  spiral  form.  But  if  the  mat 
ter  has  been  in  motion  in  a  resisting  medium,  it  would  have 
assumed  a  spiral  form,  and  be  disseminated  all  along  its 
course  towards  the  centre  of  attraction. 

The  curious  facts  that  are  established  by  modern  astrono 
mers  respecting  double  stars  prove  that  the  great  law  of  grav 
itation  extends  to  other  systems  beyond  the  solar.  More 
than  one  quarter  of  the  stars,  according  to  Struve,  are  double  ; 
and,  in  several  instances,  it  is  proved  that  these  stars  revolve 
about  each  other  in  elliptic  orbits,  in  periods  between  43 
and  1200  years.  Taking  these  facts  in  connection  with  the 
periodical  disappearance  and  reappearance  of  some  stars, 
with  thu  occasional  sudden  bursting  forth  of  a  new  star,  and 
the  total  extinguishment  of  others,  we  are  led  to  doubt 
whether  our  solar  system  is  a  type,  in  all  respects,  of  the 
entire  universe,  though  probably  the  same  general  laws  pre- 
13* 


150  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

vail  in  all  worlds.  But  how  difficult  to  conceive  of  revolving 
planets  in  a  system  that  has  two  suns,  one  of  which  revolves 
around  the  other !  Infinite  wisdom  may  have  plans  and  ob 
jects  in  the  collocation,  movements,  and  physical  condition  of 
worlds  totally  inconceivable  by  human  powers. 

Even  as  long  ago  as  the  time  of  Halley,  that  astronomer 
suggested  that  probably  the  solar  system  had  a  motion  in  an 
orbit  around  some  remote  centre  ;  and  the  idea  has  been  fre 
quently  revived  in  more  recent  times,  and  subjected  to  the 
test  of  observation.  And  though  some  still  profess  to  be 
sceptical  on  the  subject,  it  seems  difficult  to  resist  the  convic 
tion  that  it  is  true.  For  the  stars  in  one  part  of  the  heaven 
gradually  approximate  towards  one  another,  while  in  the  op 
posite  part  they  recede.  In  what  other  way  can  we  explain 
such  a  fact,  but  by  supposing  that  we  are  approaching  the 
stars  in  one  direction,  and  receding  from  them  in  the  other  ? 
The  point  towards  which  we  seem  to  be  tending  is  in  right 
ascension  about  260°,  in  declination  34°  north,  corresponding 
to  the  constellation  Hercules.  Astronomers  even  profess  to 
have  determined  the  velocity  approximately  with  which  we 
are  moving—  which  is  154,185,000  miles  in  a  year,  422,000 
in  an  hour,  and  57  each  second.  Whether  the  remote  cen 
tre  that  regulates  this  movement  may  be  occupied  by  a  vast 
sun,  or  the  attraction  may  be  but  the  aggregate  of  the  influ 
ence  of  a  vast  number  of  smaller  bodies  embraced  in  the 
same  system,  it  may  never  be  possible  to  know  ;  yet  possibly 
the  discovery  may  one  day  be  made. 

The  rapidity  with  which  the  new  planets,  denominated  as 
teroids,  have  been  discovered  of  late,  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  features  of  modern  astronomy.  These  all  move 
between  Mars  and  Jupiter;  and  though  forty  are  now  known, 
their  united  mass  is  less  than  a  quarter  part  of  the  weight 


WITH  THE  WONDERS  OF  ROMANCE.          151 

of  the  earth.  The  hypothesis,  that  they  have  all  originated 
from  the  bursting  asunder  of  a  planet  that  once  revolved  be 
tween  Mars  and  Jupiter,  is  gaining  strength,  notwithstanding 
the  powerful  attack  upon  it  by  Leverrier.  Professor  Alexan 
der,  of  this  country,  suggests  that  the  form  of  this  original 
planet  was  a  mere  flattened  disk,  that  flew  asunder  from  its 
centrifugal  force.  If  so,  it  is  not  improbable  that  those  much 
smaller  masses  that  not  unfrequently  fall  from  the  heavens, 
called  meteors,  had  the  same  origin.  If  they  had,  the  great 
problem  for  astronomers  and  meteorologists  to  solve  is  to 
make  out  the  series,  by  discovering  asteriods  of  less  and  leps 
size,  and  meteors  of  larger  size.  Leverrier  suggests  that, 
probably  by  the  close  of  this  century,  100  of  the  asteriods 
will  have  been  discovered  and  described. 

Astronomers  had  demonstrated  that  the  nearest  fixed  star 
could  not  be  less  than  20  billions  of  miles  from  the  earth. 
But  they  were  not  satisfied  till  they  could  determine  the  ac 
tual  distance.  I  believe  that  Bessel,  of  Prussia,  was  the  first 
who  ascertained  the  annual  parallax  of  a  star,  viz.,  61  Cygni, 
and  found  it  to  be  0".3136;  that  is,  the  diameter  of  the  eanh's 
orbit,  equal  190  millions  of  miles,  as  seen  from  this  star,  sub 
tends  an  angle  of  one  third  of  a  second  only.  From  this  he 
deduced  its  actual  distance  to  be  more  than  62  billions  of 
miles,  (62,481,500,000,000.)  Light,  travelling  from  this  star 
at  the  rate  of  200,000  miles  per  second,  would  require  more 
than  seven  years  to  reach  the  earth.  The  parallaxes  of  other 
stars  have  since  been  ascertained,  and  some  of  them  are  much 
smaller  —  not  more  than  the  0.027th  of  a  second.  This  would 
make  the  distance  of  this  star  731,136,000,000,000  miles,  ;;nd 
light  from  it  would  require  120  years  to  reach  us.  \V  bur, 
then,  must  be  the  parallax  and  distance  of  the  telescopic  stars  ! 
A  flash  of  lightning  on  the  earth  would  be  visible  on  the  moon 
in  a  second  and  a  quarter  ;  on  the  sun,  in  eight  minutes  ;  on 


152  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

Jupiter,  when  farthest  from  us,  in  52  minutes ;  on  Uranus,  in 
two  hours ;  on  Neptune,  in  four  hours  and  a  quarter ;  on  the 
star  Vega,  of  the  first  magnitude,  in  45  years ;  on  a  star  of 
the  eighth  magnitude,  in  180  years  ;  on  a  star  of  the  twelfth 
magnitude,  in  4000  years  ;  and  such  stars  are  visible  through 
the  telescope.  One  of  these  remotest  stars,  therefore,  may 
have  been  struck  out  of  existence  as  long  ago  as  man's  crea 
tion,  and  yet  be  still  visible  in  our  telescopes.  What  prodi 
gious  demands  does  science  make  upon  our  faith,  and  upon 
our  powers  of  conception  too  ! 

The  rapid  progress  which  has  been  made  within  a  few  years 
past  in  the  sciences  of  galvanism  and  electro-magnetism  has 
made  it  nearly  certain  that  electricity,  magnetism,  galvan 
ism,  and  electro-magnetism,  are  all  but  modifications  of  one 
great  power  in  nature,  and  that  is  the  electric  fluid.  In  com 
mon  electricity,  we  witness  this  fluid  in  a  state  of  uncontrollable 
intensity.  In  galvanism,  we  see  it  flowing  in  an  uninterrupted 
current.  In  electro-magnetism,  we  see  that  magnetism  is  pro 
duced  whenever  a  constant  current  of  electricity  can  be  made 
to  pass  through  a  body ;  and  if  those  currents  can  be  made 
to  flow  permanently,  then  permanent  magnets  will  be  pro 
duced.  On  the  other  hand,  currents  of  electricity,  which  may 
be  made  visible,  may  be  induced  in  coils  of  copper  wire,  by 
making  and  breaking  the  connection  of  a  bar  of  soft  iron  with 
a  permanent  magnet ;  that  is,  electricity  may  be  produced  by 
nvignetism,  and  it  seems  almost  certain,  therefore,  that  mag 
netism  is  only  a  modification  of  electricity. 

These  discoveries  have  thrown  a  flood  of  light  upon  many 
of  the  most  curious  and  recondite  operations  of  nature.  The 
astonishing  effects  of  the  galvanic  fluid  upon  animals  recently 
killed,  although  it  does  not  demonstrate  that  the  m}7sterious 
principle  of  life  is  identical  with  electricity,  yet  proves  a  very 
intimate  relation  between  the  two  things.  By  the  application 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  153 

of  galvanism,  for  instance,  to  the  head  of  an  ox  recently 
killed,  his  mouth  opened  with  a  bellowing  noise  ;  a  linnet, 
that  had  lain  dead  for  some  minutes,  was  made  to  spring  up, 
flutter  its  wings,  and  breathe  six  or  eight  minutes ;  and  seve 
ral  times,  criminals,  after  hanging  by  the  neck  until  they 
were  dead,  have  had  all  the  muscles  of  their  bodies  put  in 
violent  motion,  full  and  laborious  breathing  has  been  pro 
duced,  and  every  muscle  in  the  murderer's  face  has  been 
thrown  into  fearful  action,  so  that  rage,  horror,  despair,  and 
ghastly  smiles  were  exhibited  in  his  countenance  in  such  a 
hideous  combination  as  to  produce  sickness  and  fainting 
among  the  spectators. 

Physiologists  have  in  vain  endeavored  to  explain  by  what 
principle  the  numerous  distinct  parts,  solid  and  fluid,  that  are 
found  in  animals  and  plants,  can  be  separated  from  the  blood 
and  the  sap.  They- could  see  that  most  delicate  and  compli 
cated  chemical  operations  must  be  concerned  ;  but  the  ques 
tion  was,  by  what  secret  power  these  operations  were  accom 
plished.  Galvanism  throws  at  least  a  glimpse  of  light  upon 
the  subject.  The  galvanic  fluid,  when  passing  through  bodies, 
especially  those  in  solution,  exerts  an  astonishing  power  of 
decomposing  or  separating  them  into  their  elements,  and  thus 
giving  those  elements  an  opportunity  to  form  new  combina 
tions.  And,  indeed,  T  know  of  nothing  more  wonderful  in  the 
whole  records  of  science  than  this  mysterious  power.  Now, 
may  it  not  be  that  every  animal  and  every  plant  contains  with 
in  its  organization  a  galvanic  combination,  sufficiently  power 
ful  to  elaborate  all  the  secretions  which  its  nature  requires  ? 
Indeed,  the  most  distinguished  philosophers  of  our  day  have 
suggested  that  in  animals  the  brain  may  be  this  electric  pile, 
which  sends  along  the  nerves,  as  conductors,  its  successive 
shocks,  whereby  the  pulsations  of  the  heart  are  produced,  and 


154  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

the  proximate  principles  found  in  animals  are  secreted  from 
the  blood.  Hypothetical  as  this  idea  may  seem,  when  first 
announced,  there  is  one  fact  that  throws  over  it  an  air  of 
probability.  We  do  know  that  several  species  of  fish,  by 
means  of  a  galvanic  arrangement  in  their  heads,  have  the 
power  of  giving  powerful  electric  shocks.  The  gymnotus 
electricus,  or  electric  eel,  for  instance,  gives  a  shock,  ac 
cording  to  Humboldt,  powerful  enough  to  kill  a  man,  and  by 
repetition  even  a  mule,  horse,  &c.  May  not  a  weaker  power 
of  this  sort,  which  is  all  that  is  necessary,  be  found  in  every 
animal  and  plant  ? 

Galvanism,  also,  shows  us  how  many  metallic  veins  may  be 
formed  even  now  in  the  solid  rocks,  and  how  the  crystals  and 
gems  dug  from  thence  may  be  produced.  Electro-magnet 
ism  shows  us  that  it  is  only  necessary  to  suppose  the  revolu 
tion  of  electric  currents  around  the  earth,  in  order  to  show 
why  the  magnetic  needle  takes  a  north  and  south  direction  ; 
while  thermo-electricity  gives  us  a  reason  why  that  needle  has 
a  daily  variation.  In  electro-magnetism,  also,  we  find  a  prob 
able  solution  for  that  most  remarkable  phenomenon,  the  au 
rora  boreal  is  and  australis.  That  it  is  an  electro-magnetic 
phenomenon  seems  proved  beyond  all  doubt  by  the  fact  that 
its  beautiful  coruscations  all  radiate  from  one  of  the  magnetic 
poles,  though  the  precise  manner  in  which  electro-magnetic 
currents  operate  to  produce  it  is  still  involved  in  obscurity. 

After  all,  the  instantaneous  development  of  a  very  great 
attractive  force  in  some  electro-magnetic  experiments  seems 
to  me  the  most  marvellous  effect  exhibited  by  this  science. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  electro-magnet,  which  is  nothing  but  a 
bent  piece  of  soft  iron,  coiled  with  several  hundred  feet  of 
copper  wire.  This  iron  has  no  magnetism  till  the  extremities 
of  the  wire  are  connected  with  the  poles  of  a  very  feeble 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANC^x'.  155 


galvanic  battery,  when  instantly,  as  if  by  magic,  a 
magnetic  force  is  communicated  to  the  iron  —  even  a  force 
of  two  thousand  or  three  thousand  pounds,  which  vanishes  as 
soon  as  the  connection  with  the  battery  is  broken.  Now,  is 
it  not  amazing  that  this  powerful  force  should  be  communicat 
ed  in  a  moment  through  a  wire  not  more  than  one  twentieth 
of  an  inch  in  diameter  ?  Do  we  not  here  catch  a  glimpse  of 
a  prodigious  natural  force,  which  lies  hidden  and  silent  all 
around  us,  and  which,  if  it  could  only  be  fully  developed, 
would  arm  man  with  an  energy  almost  irresistible  ?  I  confess 
I  do  not  yet  despair  of  his  being  one  day  put  into  full  posses 
sion  of  this  power. 

The  next  wide  field  that  opens  before  us  is  chemistry  :  and 
how  many  marvellous  things  invite  our  examination  !  But  I 
must  not  forget  that  my  first  object  should  be  to  hurry  for 
ward.  Yet  I  must  linger  long  enough  to  point  out  a  few  flow 
ery  spots. 

The  atoms,  or  particles,  of  all  matter,  are  subject  to  the 
influence  of  two  forces  —  attraction  and  repulsion.  When 
the  first  predominates,  solid  bodies  are  formed  ;  when  the  lat 
ter  prevails,  elastic  gas,  or  air,  is  the  result  ;  when  both  are 
equally  balanced,  liquids  are  produced.  The  antagonist  to 
affinity,  or  attraction,  is  heat  ;  and  it  is  always  because  bodies 
contain  this  principle  in  different  degrees,  that  some  are  solid, 
some  liquid,  and  some  gaseous.  Men  are  accustomed  to  think 
of  heat  only  in  that  state  in  which  it  affects  our  senses  ;  but 
in  fact  the  greater  part  of  it  is  in  a  hidden  or  latent  state,  and 
no  body  is  so  cold  but  a  great  amount  of  heat  can  be  elicited 
from  it,  either  chemically  or  mechanically.  If,  for  instance, 
all  the  heat  contained  in  the  snow  and  ice  that  has  mantled 
New  England  during  the  past  winter  had  been  suddenly  ex 
tricated,  there  can  be  hardly  a  doubt  but  a  general  conflagra 
tion  of  the  surface  would  have  been  the  result. 


156  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

The  operation  of  latent  heat  in  changing  the  forms  of  bodies 
produces  some  very  paradoxical  results.  Thus,  in  freezing, 
water  gives  out  140°  of  heat,  which  becomes  sensible  ;  and 
the  great  amount  of  congelation  in  cold  climates  is  doubtless 
one  of  the  principal  causes  that  render  them  habitable  and 
comfortable  ;  for  the  harder  the  frost,  the  greater  the  amount 
of  heat  given  out.  On  the  other  hand,  when  water  evapo 
rates,  it  takes  up  into  a  latent  state  nearly  1000°  of  heat ; 
and  this  probably  it  is,  chiefly,  that  renders  the  torrid  zone 
tolerable,  since  the  heat  of  a  vertical  sun  must  produce  a  vast 
amount  of  evaporation.  Once  more,  by  a  singular  exception 
to  a  general  law,  that  cold  contracts  all  bodies,  it  is  well  known 
that  water,  in  freezing,  expands,  so  that  the  ice  swims  in  it ; 
and  being  an  almost  perfect  non-conductor  of  heat,  it  prevents 
the  water  beneath  from  giving  off  its  heat,  and  so  it  will  not 
freeze.*  Were  it  not  for  this  singular  anomaly,  —  this  inter 
ference  of  one  law  with  another,  —  all  the  streams  and  lakes 
in  such  a  climate  as  ours  would  be  frozen  to  their  bottoms, 
and  the  summer  would  hardly  suffice  to  thaw  them  out. 

Not  less  wonderful  are  the  effects  of  affinity,  or  the  power 
by  which  the  elements  are  combined,  so  as  to  form  compound 
substances.  In  these  combinations  it  has  been  found  that  the 
elements  unite  only  in  definite  quantities,  and  each  substance 
has  its  peculiar  combining  proportion,  —  a  law  which  forms  a 
mathematical  basis  for  chemistry, —  and  exhibits  strikingly 
the  wisdom  of  the  Deity,  showing  us  that  perfect  system  pre 
vails  in  the  minute,  as  well  as  in  the  most  extensive  opera 
tions  of  nature.  But  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  do  any  justice 
at  this  time  to  a  subject  so  difficult  as  that  of  definite  propor 
tions.  He  only  can  fully  appreciate  its  beauty  who  has  long 

*  This  is  rather  a  new  law  coming  in  than  an  exception  to  a  law ;  for  it  is 
not  confined  to  water,  and  seems  to  be  the  result  of  a  new  arrangement  of 
the  particles  in  the  act  of  crystallization. 


WITH    THE    WONDEHS    OF    ROMANCE.  157 

been  devoted  to  the  delicate  and  difficult  department  of  chem 
ical  analysis. 

The  vast  variety  which  nature  produces  by  the  union  of  a 
few  elements  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  results  of  chemi 
cal  affinity.  It  is  true  chemists  describe  a  little  over  sixty  of 
these  elements  ;  but  sixteen  of  these  constitute  almost  the 
entire  mass  of  the  globe,  and  scarcely  more  than  four  are 
essential  to  form  the  vast  variety  of  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdoms.  It  is  amazing,  also,  to  see  how  very  great  a  dif 
ference  between  two  compounds  is  often  produced  by  a  slight 
variation  in  the  proportion  of  their  ingredients.  Oxygen  and 
nitrogen,  for  instance,  mixed  in  the  proportion  of  one  of  the 
former  to  four  of  the  latter,  constitute  the  atmosphere,  the 
very  pabulum  of  life  to  animals  and  plants.  But  combine 
them  in  the  proportion  of  fourteen  parts  nitrogen  and  eight 
parts  oxygen,  and  you  form  the  exhilarating  gas,  little  better 
adapted  to  respiration  than  the  vapor  of  alcohol  or  ether. 
Add  eight  parts  more  of  oxygen,  and  a  gas  results,  which, 
taken  into  the  lungs,  would  be  almost  certainly  fatal.  Add 
successively  eight,  sixteen,  and  twenty-four  parts  more  of 
oxygen,  and  three  distinct  acids  would  be  formed,  eminently 
hostile  to  life.  What  perfect  wisdom  and  perfect  benevolence 
must  have  arranged  the  chemical  constitution  and  agencies  of 
this  world,  to  adapt  them  to  the  delicate  organization  of  ani 
mals  and  plants  !  And  how  very  slightly  the  elements  of  life 
differ  from  the  elements  of  death  !  The  most  delicious  fruits 
of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  for  instance,  are  composed  of  oxy 
gen,  hydrogen,  and  carbon,  and  sometimes  nitrogen ;  and  the 
most  fatal  vegetable  poisons  have  the  same  composition,  dif 
fering  only  in  the  proportion  of  the  ingredients. 

The  magic  power  of  chemical  affinity  is  still  more  manifest 
in  the  entire  change  of  properties  which  takes  place  in  sub- 
14 


158  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

stances  upon  combination.  Suppose  you  should  direct  your 
cook  to  provide  an  entertainment  of  all  the  varieties  of  food 
which  the  market  and  the  culinary  art  could  furnish,  and  he, 
taking  a  chemical  fancy  into  his  head,  should  set  before  you 
and  your  guests  a  dish  of  charcoal,  and  a  vessel  of  water, 
telling  you  that  if  you  wanted  any  nitrogen  in  addition,  the 
atmosphere  would  furnish  it.  Now,  he  could  truly  plead  that 
he  had  set  before  you  oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen,  and  car 
bon  ;  and  that  if  he  had  loaded  your  table  with  the  most  cost 
ly  viands  and  fruit,  it  would  have  added  little  more.  But  you 
would  think  his  chemistry  a  poor  substitute  for  a  good  dinner. 

Once  more  :  a  mere  difference  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
particles  of  a  substance  makes  a  world  of  difference  in  its 
properties.  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  when  Messrs.  Bun- 
dell  and  Bridges  received  orders  to  prepare  Queen  Victoria's 
crown  for  coronation  day,  instead  of  surmounting  it  with  dia 
monds,  they  had  covered  it  with  charcoal  points,  and  present 
ed  a  bill  of  £1,  instead  of  £100,000,  or  half  a  million  of 
dollars.  It  would  probably  have  hardly  quieted  the  royal  dis 
pleasure  to  have  been  informed  that  the  chemical  constitution 
of  charcoal  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  the  diamond,  and 
that  a  slight  difference  in  the  arrangement  of  the  particles 
could  be  of  no  consequence. 

The  complete  neutralization  and  concealment  of  the  most 
powerful  substances,  by  means  of  strong  chemical  affinity,  is 
another  remarkable  effect  of  this  agency,  and  a  striking  ex 
ample  of  divine  beneficence.  For  had  these  substances  been 
left  free,  the  destruction  of  organic  beings  must  have  been 
certain.  Almost  every  one  knows,  for  instance,  how  fatal  a 
poison  is  phosphorus,  and  how  eminently  and  powerfully  com 
bustible  it  is.  But  this  substance  abounds  through  all  nature 
—  in  the  solid  rocks,  in  the  soils,  in  plants,  and  especially  in 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  159 

the  bones  of  animals  ;  nay,  it  is  found  even  in  the  brain. 
A  middling-sized  man,  for  instance,  contains  a  pound  of  it, 
which,  if  in  a  free  state  and  inflamed,  would  burn  him  up  and 
every  thing  around  him.  But  now,  nothing  is  more  incom 
bustible  than  a  bone.  No  one  suspects  what  a  terrible  agent 
he  carries  within  him ;  nor  has  any  one  reason  to  fear  it,  be 
cause  it  is  disarmed.  And  so  it  is  throughout  nature  —  so 
concealed,  indeed,  that  nothing  but  delicate  chemical  tests  can 
discover  its  existence.  The  same  is  true  of  chlorine,  which, 
in  a  free  state,  is  eminently  terrible.  And  were  all  of  this 
element  that  is  now  chained  in  the  ocean  to  be  liberated  in 
one  day,  it  would  sweep  this  fair  world  of  all  its  tenants,  and 
its  beauty.  In  short,  modern  chemistry  has  afforded  us  a 
glimpse  of  a  multitude  of  agents  within  us  and  around  us, 
which,  in  a  free  state,  are  of  terrific  power.  But  the  lion  is 
converted  into  a  lamb  by  the  strong  chain  of  affinity. 

In  meteorology,  although  prolific  in  remarkable  phenomena, 
I  shall  notice  but  two  or  three.  In  the  first  place,  consider 
what  a  remarkable  envelope  of  our  globe  is  its  atmosphere  ! 
We  have  first  an  atmosphere  of  gas,  a  mixture  of  oxygen 
and  nitrogen,  decreasing-  in  density  upwards  in  a  geometrical 
ratio.  In  the  second  place,  we  have  an  atmosphere  of  vapor 
equally  extensive  ;  for  the  gas  is  a  solvent  of  water,  and  the 
average  amount  of  vapor  in  the  air  would  form  a  stratum  of 
water  on  the  earth's  surface  five  inches  thick  ;  and  the  amount 
of  water  annually  deposited  in  the  form  of  dew  actually 
amounts  to  four  inches  in  depth.  In  the  third  place,  we  have 
an  atmosphere  of  that  subtle  ether  which  probably  pervades 
all  space,  and  occupies  the  interstices  between  the  particles 
of  matter,  and  gives  rise  to  the  phenomena  of  light,  heat,  and 
electricity.  And  yet  this  atmosphere,  so  complex  in  its  char 
acter,  seems  to  us  the  most  simple  of  all  things. 


160  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

The  power  of  natural  evaporation  possessed  by  the  atmos 
phere  is  very  surprising.  From  experiments  made  in  Eu 
rope,  it  appears  that  the  quantity  of  water  evaporated  from 
the  surface  of  Great  Britain  amounts  to  32  inches,  or 
142  thousand  millions  (141,832,558,752)  of  tons  annually, 
while  the  quantity  of  rain  that  falls  is  36  inches,  or  160  thou 
sand  millions  of  tons,  (159,561,628,596.)  * 

In  order  to  prevent  universal  stagnation  and  death,  it  was 
necessary  that  the  atmospheric  elements  should  be  allowed 
some  degree  of  motion.  But  the  limits  of  their  oscillations 
must  be  very  narrow,  or  desolation  would  follow  their  move 
ments.  And  how  perfectly  is  this  object  accomplished,  though 
seemingly  impossible  !  for  when  Eolus  has  once  escaped  from 
his  cave,  who  shall  bind  him  again  ?  Almighty  wisdom  and 
power  are  alone  adequate  ;  and  though  occasional  ruin  fol 
lows  the  elemental  strife,  yet  security  is  the  law,  and  desola 
tion  the  infrequent  exception. 

In  advancing  to  those  sciences  that  relate  to  the  animate 
part  of  creation,  anatomy  and  physiology,  the  first  of  which 
treats  of  the  structure,  and  the  latter  of  the  functions,  of 
organized  beings,  first  arrest  our  attention  ;  and  they  so 
abound  with  wonders,  that  the  remaining  time  which  your 
patience  will  allow  me  might  be  all  profitably  devoted  to 
them.  But  so  many  familiar  and  popular  works  have  been 
published  upon  anatomy  and  physiology,  that  I  may  fairly 
presume  every  person  of  good  education  has  some  ac 
quaintance  with  many  of  the  most  striking  facts  in  these 
sciences.  Who,  for  instance,  has  not  some  knowledge  of  the 
structure  of  that  most  exquisite  of  all  organic  contrivances 
the  eye  ?  Who  cannot  toll  something  of  the  mechanism  of 

*  Thomson  on  Heat  and  Electricity,  p.  267.     Turner's  Sacred  History, 
Vol.  I.  p.  32. 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  161 

the  ear  ?  of  the  bones,  especially  the  vertebral  column,  — 
of  the  organs  of  digestion  and  assimilation,  —  of  the  muscles, 
and  their  mysterious  power  of  contraction,  —  and  above  all, 
of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  with  the  structure  and  func 
tions  of  the  heart  and  the  lungs  ?  Who  knows  not  that  his 
five  senses  depend  chiefly  upon  distinct  sets  of  nerves,  all 
proceeding  from  one  great  centre,  the  brain,  and  yet  incapa 
ble  of  performing  the  functions  of  one  another  ?  And  who 
does  not  remember  what  thrilling  impressions  the  first  devel 
opment  of  these  subjects  made  upon  him  ?  how  he  trembled 
to  hear  his  heart  beat,  and  to  feel  his  lungs  heaving,  and 
almost  feared  to  move,  lest  the  harp  t)f  thousand  strings 
should  be  untuned  ? 

But  there  is  a  department  of  these  sciences,  called  Com 
parative  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  which  has  of  late  been 
cultivated  with  extraordinary  success,  and  whose  marvellous 
results  are  less  known.  I  cannot,  therefore,  entirely  neglect 
them. 

When  a  man,  not  conversant  with  anatomy,  looks  upon  the 
bones  of  an  animal  promiscuously  mingled  together,  he  does 
not  perceive  any  striking  harmony  and  relation  between  them. 
But  a  careful  and  extensive  comparison  reveals  the  astonish 
ing  fact,  "  that  from  the  character  of  a  single  lirnb,"  (I  use 
the  words  of  an  able  comparative  anatomist,)  "  and  even  of 
a  single  tooth,  or  bone,  the  form  and  proportion  of  the  other 
bones,  and  the  condition  of  the  entire  animal,  may  be  in 
ferred."  "  Hence,  not  only  the  framework  of  the  fossil  skel 
eton  of  an  extinct  animal,  but  also  the  character  of  the  mus 
cles,  by  which  each  bone  was  moved,  the  external  form  and 
figure  of  the  body,  the  food,  and  habits,  and  haunts,  and  mode 
of  life  of  creatures  that  ceased  to  exist  before  the  creation  of 
the  human  race,  can,  with  a  high  degree  of  probability,  be 
14  * 


162  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

ascertained."*  These  statements  have  been  established  by 
the  severest  tests.  For  a  single  tooth  or  bone  of  an  unknown 
animal  has  been  put  into  the  hands  of  the  anatomist,  and  from 
it  he  has  constructed  the  entire  skeleton  and  a  description  of 
the  whole  animal.  Afterwards  a  complete  skeleton  has  been 
discovered,  and  found  to  correspond  with  the  one  described 
by  analogy.  Truly,  there  is  mathematics  in  bones,  as  well  as 
in  lines,  angles,  and  numbers. 

It  is  an  interesting  process  to  take  a  particular  organ  of  the 
human  frame  and  compare  it  with  the  analogous  organ  in  the 
lower  classes  of  animals,  and  to  see  how  its  functions  and 
structure  gradually 'change  ;  but  always  in  such  a  manner  as 
will  adapt  it  more  perfectly  to  the  condition  and  wants  of  the 
animal.  So  manifold  and  striking,  for  example,  are  these 
adaptations  in  that  most  remarkable  organ,  the  hand,  that  a 
distinguished  anatomist  has  made  it  the  entire  subject  of  one 
of  the  famous  Bridgewater  Treatises.  Or  take  the  organs  of 
motion,  and  compare  the  movements  of  the  sloth  with  those 
of  the  deer,  the  antelope,  the  hare,  the  grasshopper,  or  the 
flea.  The  sloth  consumes  several  days  in  getting  from  one 
tree  to  another — which  he  never  does  till  nearly  starved. 
But  such  a -change  is  rarely  necessary,  and  therefore  the  mus 
cles  are  not  adapted  to  it.  Yet  the  cicada  spumaria,  a  spe 
cies  of  locust,  can  leap  two  hundred  and  fifty  times  its  length. 
If  a  man  could  leap  the  same  distance  in  proportion  to  his 
size,  he  would  be  carried  a  quarter  of  a  mile  ;  and  an  ox  or 
an  elephant  still  farther  —  far  enough,  indeed,  to  dash  him  in 
pieces.  A  flea  weighs  less  than  a  grain,  and  can  leap  an 
inch  and  a  half.  A  man,  at  the  same  rate,  would  pass  over 
12,800  miles,  or  half  round  the  globe  !  The  legs  of  one 

*  Buckland's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  Vol.  I.  p.  109. 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  163 

insect,  the  water  boatman,  (notenecta,}  are  so  fitted  that 
he  always  swims  upon  his  back.  Another,  the  bat-mite, 
(pteroptus,)  has  the  power  of  instantly  throwing  its  legs  up 
wards  so  as  to  walk  upon  its  back.  Another,  the  dragon  fly, 
can  project  a  stream  of  water  from  its  body,  and  thus  be 
driven  forward  on  the  principle  of  the  rocket. 

Not  less  variety  exists  in  the  organs  of  respiration.  We 
are  apt  to  feel  that  breathing  can  be  performed  only  by  lungs. 
But  the  membranous  air  bags  of  reptiles  are  quite  different. 
Frogs  and  tortoises  swallow  air,  and  hence  have  been  known 
to  live  more  than  a  month  with  their  mouths  and  nostrils 
closed ;  although  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  common 
opinion  that  frogs  live  for  centuries  without  air,  enclosed  in 
stone,  is  unfounded.  Fishes  breathe  by  their  gills,  and  insects 
by  means  of  tubes  in  various  parts  of  their  bodies. 

Man,  too,  finds  it  difficult  to  conceive  how  animals  can  exist 
without  heads.  But  a  large  class  that  inhabit  sea  shells  are 
called  acephala, —  that  is,  headless  animals,  —  and  the  skill 
which  they  discover  in  the  formation  of  those  beautiful  struc 
tures  which  form  their  habitations  throws  into  the  shade  the 
architecture  of  that  biped  race  who  not  only  have  heads,  but 
boast  that  they  constitute  the  head  of  this  lower  creation. 

The  delicate  changes  in  the  organs  of  vision  to  adapt  them 
to  the  condition  and  wants  of  animals  are  among  the  most 
remarkable  provisions  of  divine  wisdom  for  their  comfort. 
We  cannot  see  well  in  water,  because  our  eyes  are  fitted  for 
the  air  ;  nor  can  fish  see  well  in  air,  for  the  same  reason. 
By  using  very  convex  spectacles  we  might  have  distinct  vision 
in  water ;  and  so,  were  a  whale  disposed  to  take  an  excursion 
on  land,  the  optician  might  doubtless  provide  him  with  a  pair 
of  spectacles  through  which  he  could  see  as  well  as  many 
travellers  of  our  own  species  have  done.  But  his  glasses 


164  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

must  be  concave.  Some  insects,  as  the  gyrinus,  which  live 
chiefly  upon  the  surface  of  the  water,  have  two  pairs  of  eyes, 
or  perhaps  a  division  of  one  pair  into  an  upper  and  lower  part 
—  one  set  for  looking  into  the  water,  and  the  other  for  look 
ing  into  the  air.  The  eyes  of  insects  generally  are  fixed 
immovably  in  the  head,  and,  therefore,  they  need  some  pro 
vision  to  enable  them  to  see  on  all  sides.  This  is  accom 
plished  by  making  their  eyes  polygonal,  like  a  multiplying 
glass,  which,  in  fact,  amounts  to  giving  them  as  many  eyes  as 
there  are  facets  ;  for  each  plane  will  produce  a  separate  im 
age  on  the  retina.  In  this  sense  the  house  fly  has  14,000 
eyes  —  that  is,  7000  facets  to  each  eye  ;  the  dragon  fly, 
25,000  ;  the  butterfly,  35,000  ;  and  the  mordella,  50,000. 
How  perfect  must  be  the  structure  of  the  eye  to  keep  so 
complex  an  organ  in  repair  !  Another  fact  in  relation  to  the 
eye  of  the  cod  fish  is  still  more  striking  in  this  connection. 
The  crystalline  lens  in  that  fish,  which  is  never  half  an  inch 
in  diameter,  has  been  proved  to  be  made  up  of  more  than 
5,000,000  fibres,  which  are  united  together  by  more  than 
62,500,000,000  teeth ! 

The  instincts  of  animals  afford  a  prolific  source  of  exam 
ples  appropriate  to  my  object.  But  presuming  that  many 
marvellous  facts  on  this  subject  are  known  to  all,  I  shall  pass 
rapidly  over  it.  Perhaps,  however,  no  department  of  science 
presents  facts  so  nearly  approaching  to  romance  as  this.  In 
deed,  the  earlier  works  on  zoology  contain  not  a  few  statements 
that  are  really  fictitious.  Many,  for  example,  still  suppose  that 
serpents  have  the  power  of  charming  their  prey,  and  even 
man,  within  the  reach  of  their  fangs  ;  a  notion  which  is  of  a 
piece  with  the  ancient  stories  about  the  sirens,  —  the  dulce  ma- 
lum  in  pelago,  —  or  with  the  modern  notions  about  the  conver 
sion  of  a  horsehair  into  a  snake.  But  making  all  due  allow- 


WITH  THE  WONDERS  OF  ROMANCE.          165 

ances  for  such  fancies,  there  still  remains  in  the  history  of 
animal  instincts  a  vast  mass  of  facts  that  are  truly  marvel 
lous.  Perhaps  in  nothing  do  these  instincts  seem  more  like 
perfected  reason  than  in  the  construction  of  the  habitations 
of  animals.  Who  does  not  know  what  geometry  as  well  as 
perfection  of  government  there  is  in  a  beehive  ?  Nor  arc 
they  less  striking  in  a  vespiary.  Indeed,  the  queen  of  the 
wasps  is  far  more  enterprising  and  energetic  than  the  queen 
of  the  honey  bees.  For  during  the  winter  nearly  all  tho 
wasps  die,  and  the  queen  has  to  rear  up  an  entirely  new  col 
ony,  and  provide  for  them.  But  before  autumn  she  not  uu- 
frequently  rules  over  no  less  than  30,000  subjects  —  and  all 
her  own  children.  I  must  not,  however,  go  into  details  on 
these  points.  But  there  is  one  fact  connected  with  the  history 
of  bees,  though  not  very  relevant  to  my  subject,  which  I  men 
tion  for  the  special  benefit  of  young  men.  Naturalists  admit 
that  the  most  satisfactory  account  of  the  instincts  and  habits 
of  bees  was  furnished  by  the  elder  Huber,  who  constructed 
glass  hives,  and  other  apparatus,  so  that  he  could  watch  their 
movements.  But  of  what  use  were  glass  hives  to  him  ?  for 
he  was  stone  blind.  The  mystery  is  easily  explained.  "  lie 
saw  the  bees,"  says  his  biographer,  "  through  the  eyes  of  the 
admirable  woman  whom  he  married."  Now,  I  wish  the  young 
gentlemen  who  hear  me  to  understand  that  it  is  no  uncommon 
occurrence  for  a  man  to  find  his  wife  as  great  a  blessing  as  a 
good  pair  of  eyes. 

The  instincts  of  the  spider  are  quite  as  remarkable  as 
those  of  the  bee,  the  wasp,  and  the  ant.  Though  the  most 
ferocious  .of  all  animals,  she  will  fight  with  desperation  in 
defence  of  her  young  ;  but  when  the  cocoon  containing  them 
is  torn  from  her,  she  Avill  simulate  death  so  perfectly,  that  her 
limbs  may  be  torn  off*  one  by  one,  and  yet  she  will  show  no 


166  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

sign  of  life  ;  but  let  her  cocoon  be  brought  within  her  reach, 
and  she  will  seize  it  with  desperate  strength.  The  process  by 
which  the  spider  weaves  its  web  is  as  remarkable  as  any 
thing  in  the  animal  kingdom ;  but  the  description  would  be 
too  prolix. 

I  must  not  leave  the  comparative  physiology  of  animals 
without  adverting  to  the  subject  of  their  transformation,  or 
metamorphosis.  Every  animal,  in  the  successive  stages  of  its 
existence,  undergoes  more  or  less  of  change.  It  is  said  that, 
in  man,  the  particles  that  compose  the  infant  are  several 
times  entirely  replaced  by  others  before  the  period  of  old 
age.  But  some  animals  undergo  sudden  and  remarkable 
changes.  Serpents  cast  off  their  skins,  and  crustaceans,  such 
as  the  lobster,  their  shells,  annually.  The  frog  is  first  hatched 
in  the  form  of  a  tadpole,  —  or,  as  we  more  commonly  say  in 
New  England,  a  polliwog,  —  which  has  the  form  of  a  fish 
with  a  large  head,  but  without  legs  or  fins.  Gradually  this 
creature  becomes  a  frog,  with  four  legs.  But  the  most  per 
fect  example  of  metamorphosis  is  that  of  insects,  especially 
the  winged  species.  They  are  hatched  as  a  caterpillar,  or 
grub,  which  is  called  their  larva  state.  Next  they  enclose 
themselves  in  a  cocoon,  and  become  torpid.  This  is  their 
pupa  or  chrysalis  state.  From  this  condition  they  emerge 
into  their  imago  or  perfect  state,  as  elegant,  lively,  winged  in 
sects.  Such  cases  have  been  beautifully  denominated  emblems 
of  immortality.  The  larva  state,  in  which  the  animal  is  in  an 
active,  but  depressed  and  imperfect  condition,  may  well  be 
likened  to  the  present  life.  The  torpidity  and  confinement  of 
the  pupa  state  well  represents  our  detention  in  the  grave ; 
while  the  imago  or  perfect  state  beautifully  typifies  our  con 
dition  when  this  corruptible  shall  Jiave  put  on  incorruption, 
and  this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality. 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  1G7 

Among  the  lowest  tribes  of  animals,  the  polypi  are  distin 
guished  for  their  anomalies.  The  simplest  form  of  one  of 
these  animals  is  a  fleshy  tube,  open  only  at  the  top,  and  the 
opening  surrounded  by  flexible  arms,  called  tentacula.  On 
each  side  of  the  tentacula  are  usually  fine  fibres,  like  hairs, 
called  cilise.  These  are  capable  of  such  rapid  motion  that 
the  eye  cannot  follow  them  ;  and  the  object  of  their  move 
ments  usually  is  to  produce  eddying  currents  of  water  around 
their  mouths,  in  order  to  bring  food  within  their  reach.  A 
good  example  of  these  animals  is  the  hydra,  which  is  found 
in  fresh  water.  It  may  be  described  as  consisting  of  nothing 
but  a  stomach,  with  tentacula  around  its  mouth  to  draw  in  its 
prey.  It  is  an  enormous  glutton  when  it  can  obtain  food,  yet 
it  will  live  four  months  without  it.  When  two  hydras  contend 
for  a  worm,  the  stronger  not  only  swallows  the  morsel,  but 
also  his  antagonist  and  his  own  tentacula ;  the  two  latter, 
however,  usually  escape  without  being  digested.  When  this 
animal  is  turned  inside  out,  as  it  may  be,  digestion  goes  on 
equally  well  —  a  power  which  would  be  very  convenient  for 
the  biped  gormands  of  the  Caucasian  race.  But  the  most 
remarkable  fact  relating  to  these  animals  is,  their  power  of 
repairing  almost  any  injury  which  they  receive  that  does  not 
absolutely  annihilate  them.  If  they  be  divided  lengthwise 
into  several  strips,  each  piece  will  in  a  few  hours  become  a 
tube  ;  and  in  a  day  new  tentacula  will  be  produced  and  ready 
for  taking  in  food.  Or,  by  cutting  up  several  hydras,  differ 
ent  parts  may  be  made  to  grow  together,  and  become  one 
animal.  In  this  way,  every  variety  of  monster  which  "  fancy 
yet  has  feigned  or  fear  conceived  "  may  be  originated  ;  and 
this  is  actually  the  way  in  which  the  hydra  with  seven  heads, 
which  has  often  been  the  occasion  of  gross  imposition,  has 
been  formed. 


168  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

In  the  greater  number  of  cases,  the  simple  polypi,  that 
have  been  described,  are  attached  to  a  stony  or  horny  axis, 
which  they  themselves  secrete  and  build  up.  And  it  is  re 
markable  that  multitudes  unite  to  build  up  a  habitation  with 
the  same  regularity  as  if  a  single  will  guided  them.  It  is 
a  question  among  naturalists  whether,  in  such  a  case,  the 
individuals  that  thus  combine  ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  a 
single  animal.  In  a  single  specimen  of  flustra  there  are 
sometimes  more  than  18,000  polypi.  Each  polype  has  22 
tentacula  and  50  ciliae  ;  so  that  in  the  whole  specimen  there 
are  396,000  tentacula  and  39,600,000  cilise.  In  another 
species,  Dr.  Grant  calculates  that  there  are  400,000,000  of 
cilise.  And  these  are  all  busy  upon  that  one  specimen,  of 
only  a  few  square  inches.  How  immense,  then,  must  be  the 
number  of  polypi  and  their  cilia?  upon  those  vast  coral  struc 
tures  which,  in  the  tropical  seas,  form  reefs  several  hundred 
miles  long  ! 

I  shall  mention  here  one  other  physiological  fact  relating 
to  the  lower  orders  of  animals,  because  I  believe  it  to  be  ex 
tremely  rare,  and  I  happen  to  have  a  few  specimens  to  illus 
trate  it.  A  very  few  examples  are  on  record  in  which  plants 
of  the  fungus  tribe,  such  as  sphseria  and  isaria,  have  been 
known  to  grow  out  of  the  bodies  of  insects  or  their  Iarva3,  in 
the  West  Indies  and  South  America,  even  while  they  were  yet 
alive.  I  have  specimens  from  Wisconsin,  in  which  a  species 
of  spha3ria-has  grown  two  or  three  inches  long  from  the  head 
of  a  small  grub.* 

In  proceeding  onwards  through  the  fields  of  science,  just 
on  the  borders  of  the  domains  of  physiology  and  psychology, 


*  For  details  on  this  curious  subject,  see  Griffith  and  Henfrey's  Mico- 
graphic  Dictionary,  article  Parasites. 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  169 

two  gateways  open  laterally,  through  which  we  catch  a 
glimpse  of  scenery  the  most  enchanting,  though  the  fogs  of 
night  still  rest  upon  much  of  it,  and  the  sun,  yet  but  a  little 
above  the  horizon,  has  not  been  able  to  dissipate  it.  Over 
these  gateways  is  written  Phrenology,  Mesmerism,  and  Spir 
itualism.  Shall  we  pass  through  them  ?  I  answer,  No  ;  for 
around  the  entrance  I  see  not  a  few,  whom  I  recognize  as 
veterans  in  science,  arrayed  in  opposition  to  one  another  in 
earnest  controversy.  On  the  one  side  it  is  maintained  that 
these  passages  lead  into  regions  of  knowledge,  not  only  smil 
ing  with  flowers,  but  clustered  with  golden  fruit ;  that,  in  fact, 
here,  and  here  only,  are  found  the  clear  fountains  of  intel 
lectual  science.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  said  that  these  pas 
sages  lead  only  into  the  regions  of  fancy  and  romance  ;  that 
nothing  here  is  fixed  and  settled ;  and  that  a  few  parhelia  and 
rainbows,  painted  on  the  clouds  and  fogs  that  hover  on  the 
outskirts  of  physiology  and  metaphysics,  have  been  mistaken 
for  golden  mountains ;  in  short,  that  nothing  can  be  found 
in  those  regions  of  morass  and  fog  deserving  the  name  of 
science. 

Now,  it  is  not  my  intention,  in  this  lecture,  to  enter  into  a 
discussion  of  contested  principles  and  facts,  but  only  to  state 
those  in  which  the  highest  authorities  are  agreed ;  and  there 
fore  we  will  pass  by  phrenology  and  mesmerism.  But  I 
must  be  allowed  to  make  one  or  two  remarks  upon  the  man 
ner  in  which  these  and  some  other  subjects  of  a  scientific 
nature  have  been  treated  both  in  this  and  other  countries. 
As  to  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  these  subjects,  I  pretend  not 
to  decide.  I  have  not  studied  them  thoroughly  enough,  either 
to  advocate  or  oppose  them.  But,  unless  we  must  discredit 
testimony  which  would  be  deemed  sufficient  to  establish  the 
truth  in  any  other  science,  they  do  present  us  with  many 
15 


170  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

curious   and   remarkable   facts,  which,  to   say  the   least,  are 
explained  with  great  difficulty  by  ordinary  scientific  princi 
ples.     Now,  what,  in  such  a  case,  is  the  course  which  every 
true  philosopher  ought  to  take  ?    Evidently,  if  he  follow  Newton 
and  Bacon,  he  ought  to  examine  those  facts  calmly,  and  with 
a  scrutiny  proportionate  to  their  anomalous  and  marvellous 
character.      The  philosophy  of  those  facts   is  a   subsequent 
matter,  and  should  be  left  untouched  till  facts  enough  are  col 
lected  to  force  the   mind  to  theorize  ;  and  very  possibly,  in 
this  case,  the  real  philosopher  would  decide  that  he  could  do 
nothing  more  than  to  collect  facts,  and  leave  posterity  to  form 
the  theories.     But  how  different  from  all  this  has  been  the 
course  pursued   in   respect   to   phrenology,  mesmerism,  and 
spiritualism  !     On  the  one  hand,  many  have  become  violent 
partisans  for  the  theories  before  they  could  be  half  acquainted 
with  the  facts,  and  have   set  themselves  up  as   leaders  and 
oracles  in  these   sciences  before  they  had  strength  enough  to 
sustain  for  a  moment  the  panoply  of  philosophy.    On  the  other 
hand,  it  has  been  maintained  that  the   facts  respecting  these 
sciences  could  not  be  true,  because  they  conflicted  either  with 
the  principles   of  sciences  already  established  or  with  those 
of  religion  —  thus  virtually  declaring  that  nothing  new  can  be 
learned    respecting  mind  or  matter.     On  these  grounds,  an 
appeal  is  made  to  the  strongest  prejudices  and  passions  of 
human  nature  against  the  claims  of  the  new  sciences  ;  and  a 
popular   odium   is  thus  excited   against  those  who    cultivate 
them.     The  mass  of  men  become  afraid  of  such  as  innova 
tors  and  enemies  of  religion  ;  and  it  requires  not  a  little  moral 
courage  and  attachment  to  science  to  induce  a  man  to  pur 
sue  his  investigations  in  the  face   of  so  much  obloquy  and 
illiberality. 

But  to  return  from  this  digression.     In  treating  of  compar- 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  171 

ative  anatomy  and  physiology,  already  have  I  glanced  at  the 
domains  of  zoology,  and  brought  before  you  some  objects 
from  the  great  menagerie  of  nature.  A  few  statements,  there 
fore,  respecting  the  number  of  species  and  individuals  which 
her  zoological  gardens  contain,  with  a  short  description  of 
one  most  remarkable  class,  will  be  all  that  I  shall  attempt. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  an  exact  estimate  of  the  number 
of  species  of  animals  on  the  globe  that  have  been  actually 
named  up  to  the  present  moment,  because  I  cannot  have 
access  to  all  the  works  where  new  ones  are  being  continually 
described.  A  few  years  since,  however,  the  number  was  as 
follows  :  — 

( Mammalia, 2,030 

Birds, 7,000 

Chelonians,  (tortoises,)      .     .     .  120 

Vertebrata.  \  Saurian  Lizards, 460 

Serpents, 300 

Batrachians,  (frogs,  &c.,)       .     .  175 

Fishes, 8,000 

Articulata,    f  Vermes,  (worms,  &c.,)      .     .     .  770 

or           \  Crustacea,  (lobsters,  &c.,)      .     .  792 

Entomozoa.  i  Hexapoda,  (insects,)     ....  65,000 

Mollusca,  (shells,) 11,482 

Radiata,  or  Phytozoa,  ....  4,818 


100,947 

Now,  it  is  certain  that  this  estimate  must  be  very  far  below 
the  actual  number  of  species  on  the  globe,  especially  in 
respect  to  the  smaller  animals.  Thus  it  is  stated  by  a  late 
distinguished  entomologist,  Dr.  Harris,  that  there  are  six  spe 
cies  of  insects  to  every  species  of  plants.  And  since  the 


172  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

number  of  species  of  flowering  plants  already  described 
amounts  to  at  least  60,000,  the  species  of  insects  must  ap 
proach  half  a  million.  Indeed,  judicious  naturalists  suppose 
that  the  species  of  animals  existing  on  the  globe  cannot  be 
less  than  a  million  —  perhaps  more. 

A  few  facts  respecting  the  numbers  of  individuals  in  par 
ticular  species  of  animals  may  give  a  still  deeper  impression 
of  the  extent  of  the  animate  creation.  And  here  the  recollec 
tion  immediately  recurs  to  those  vast  swarms  of  locusts  that 
have  sometimes  laid  waste  entire  kingdoms  —  shut  out  the 
sun,  as  their  armies,  several  feet  thick,  and  miles  in  width, 
flew  through  the  air.  Among  fishes,  perhaps  the  shoals  of 
herring  which  annually  migrate  southward  from  the  arctic 
seas  are  the  most  incredibly  numerous.  Often  these  vast  bodies 
move  in  columns  that  are  several  leagues  in  width  and  many 
fathoms  thick,  and  so  close  together  that  they  touch  one 
another,  and  sensibly  impede  ships ;  and  this  stream  continues 
to  move  past  any  particular  spot  nearly  all  summer.  In 
Norway,  400,000,000  are  annually  taken ;  near  Gottenburg, 
700,000,000 ;  and  by  other  nations,  "  numbers  without 
number." 

No  less  numerous  are  the  tenants  of  the  air.  Captain 
Flinders  saw  a  flock  of  sooty  petrels  pass  over  him,  in  Van 
Die  men's  Land,  which  could  not  have  contained  less  than 
150,500,000.*  But  a  flock  of  pigeons  which  passed  .over 
Mr.  Audubon,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  he  estimates  at 
no  less  than  1,000,115,000,000  individuals  —  which  would 
require  for  their  support  8,712,000  bushels  of  grain  per  day.f 
The  gelatinous  animals,  called  medusae,  often  small  and  even 


*  Quarterly  Review,  1814,  p.  27. 

f  Jardine's  American  Ornithology,  Vol.  II.  p.  196. 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  173 

microscopic,  swarm  in  the  arctic  seas,  so  as  to  give  a  color 
to  the  water  for  hundreds  of  miles ;  and  a  cubic  foot  of 
water,  taken  up  indiscriminately,  was  found  by  Captain 
Scoresby  to  contain  100,000.*  And  he  estimates  that,  if 
80,000  persons  had  been  counting  since  the  creation,  they 
would  not  yet  have  been  able  to  number  those  that  exist  in 
the  arctic  seas  at  the  present  moment. f  I  have  already  stated 
that  the  wasp  will  multiply  30,000  fold  in  one  summer.  The 
queen  of  the  termites,  or  African  ant,  will  deposit  80,000 
eggs  in  24  hours.  A  cyclops,  a  species  of  insect,  is  capable 
of  multiplying  so  prodigiously,  that  in  four  months  her  de 
scendants  would  amount  to  4500  millions.  A  single  herring 
is  capable  of  depositing  from  20,000  to  37,000  eggs ;  a  carp, 
200,000  ;  the  tench,  383,000 ;  and  the  flounder,  1,000,000. 
But  the  common  oyster  might  produce  1,200,000;  and  if 
these  were  each  to  become  a  full-grown  oyster,  they  would 
fill  1200  barrels. 

The  last  tribe  of  animals,  called  animalcula,  or  infusoria, 
which  are  all  microscopic,  present  examples  of  increase  still 
more  surprising.  Indeed,  the  splendid  discoveries  of  the 
Prussian  naturalist  Ehrenberg  have  disclosed  a  world  of 
wonders  in  the  microscopic  department  of  nature  no  less 
astonishing  than  those  brought  to  light  by  the  telescope.  He 
has  described  no  less  than  1000  species  of  animalcula,  which 
swim  in  salt  and  fresh  water,  in  many  of  the  fluids  of  the 
living  and  healthy  animal  —  in  short,  in  all  vegetable  and 
animal  substances,  and  in  the  atmosphere.  The  smallest  of 
these  animals  are  not  more  than  one  forty  thousandth  of  an 
inch  in  diameter;  and  so  thickly  are  they  sometimes  crowded 
together,  that  a  small  drop  of  fluid  contains  500,000,000,  or 

*  Roget,  YoL  I.  p.  143.  t  Kirby,  p.  450. 

15* 


174  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

nearly  as  many  as  the  human  beings  on  the  globe.  Formerly 
it  was  supposed  that  these  animals  were  little  more  than 
simple  particles  of  matter,  endowed  with  vitality.  But 
Ehrenberg  has  ascertained  that  they  possess  mouths,  teeth, 
stomachs,  muscles,  nerves,  glands,  eyes,  —  and  in  short,  all  the 
important  organs  of  the  more  perfect  animals.  Some  species 
have  from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  sacs  or  stomachs  con 
nected  with  an  intestinal  canal ;  and  the  thickness  of  the 
membrane  that  lines  these  stomachs  he  estimates  at  one  fifty 
millionth  part  of  an  inch. 

The  rate  at  which  these  animals  multiply  is  prodigious. 
An  individual  of  the  hydatina  senta  had  increased,  in  ten 
days,  to  a  million ;  in  eleven  days,  to  four  millions  ;  and  in 
twelve  days,  to  sixteen  millions.  But  this  is  moderate,  com 
pared  with  another  species,  which  is  capable  of  multiplying, 
in  four  days,  to  one  hundred  and  seventy  billions  ! 

But  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  facts  remain  yet  to  be 
mentioned.  Minute  as  these  animalcula  are,  they  are  covered 
with  a  case  or  shield,  composed  either  of  pure  silex  or  oxide 
of  iron ;  and  when  the  animal  dies,  these  shields  are  depos 
ited  at  the  bottom  of  the  water.  In  this  way,  incredible 
though  it  may  appear,  have  beds  of  silicious  or  ferruginous 
matter  been  accumulated,  many  feet  thick,  which  has  been 
sometimes  changed  in  part  into  solid  rock.  The  polishing  slate, 
for  instance,  a  kind  of  rotten  stone  near  Bilin,  in  Germany, 
is  entirely  composed  of  these  skeletons,  14  feet  in  thickness ; 
and  another  bed  of  infusorial  earth,  near  Limcnburg,  is 
more  than  28  feet  thick.  Yet  it  requires  41,000  millions  of 
these  skeletons  to  make  a  cubic  inch,  which  weighs  220 
grains.  So  that  a  single  skeleton  weighs  the  187  millionth 
part  of  a  grain.  Many  of  the  hardest  minerals,  such  as  flint 
and  opal,  have  been  found  to  be  composed  of  the  same  re- 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  175 

mains ;  and  bog  iron  ore  is  said  to  have  a  similar  origin.  A 
kind  of  silicious  marl,  similar  to  that  from  Bilin,  exists  prob 
ably  in  almost  every  town  in  New  England,  beneath  peat 
bogs.  In  some  places,  in  Massachusetts,  this  deposit,  mixed 
with  a  little  clay,  is  fifteen  feet  thick  ;  and  in  Virginia  are 
beds  of  fossil  animalcula  from  twelve  to  twenty-five  feet  thick. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  the  animal 
kingdom,  and  yet  who  can  tell  what  new  mysteries  will  be 
unfolded  by  future  improvements  in  optical  instruments  ?  I 
turn,  therefore,  to  the  vegetable  world,  —  literally  a  flowery 
field,  —  and  yet  I  shall  have  time  to  refer  to  only  a  very  few 
facts,  abundant  as  they  are. 

A  moderate  estimate  of  the  number  of  species  already 
described  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  makes  it  69,403.  Of 
these,  9100  are  flowerless,  and  their  structure  is  cellular; 
such  as  mosses,  lichens,  fungi,  and  sea  weeds.  60,303  have 
regular  flowers,  and  they  have  a  vascular  structure.  Of 
the  latter  class,  10,629  are  monocotyledons,  and  49,674  are 
dicotyledons. 

The  largest  known  flower  is  the  Rqfflcsia  Arnoldii,  a  para 
sitic  plant,  a  sort  of  vine,  that  bears  a  flower  three  and  a 
half  feet  in  diameter,  growing  in  Sumatra. 

Microscopic  plants  are  no  less  abundant  and  remarkable 
than  microscopic  animals.  Indeed,  many  of  those  which  I 
have  described  as  belonging  to  the  infusoria  are  regarded  as 
plants  by  some  of  the  ablest  naturalists. 

In  the  Alps,  as  well  as  in  high  latitudes,  the  snow  has 
sometimes  a  red  color  ;  and  it  is  found  to  proceed  from  the 
presence  of  a  minute  fungus,  the  hamatococcus  nivaUs. 
The  snow  seems  to  be  the  soil  natural  to  its  growth.  It  is 
said  to  be  associated  with  living  infusoria,  which  die  when 
the  snow  melts. 


176  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

A  still  more  remarkable  fact  is,  that  fermentation  is,  in  most 
cases,  the  result  of  the  growth  of  a  fungus  called  the  yeast 
plant,  the  vinegar  plant,  dec.,  or  torula  cerevisice.  The  cells 
of  this  plant  multiply  rapidly  by  the  decomposition  of  the  sub 
stances  in  a  state  of  fermentation,  and  hence  the  evolution  of 
carbonic  acid.  The  cells  of  this  yeast  plant  are  from  one 
twenty-four  hundredth  to  one  three  thousandth  of  an  inch  in 
diameter.  Whether  the  process  of  digestion  in  the  animal 
stomach  consists  of  the  same  process,  does  not  yet  seem  to 
be  determined  ;  but  there  is  certainly  great  similarity  in  the 
processes.  Should  digestion  come  into  the  same  category,  it 
would  be  indeed  a  marvellous  development. 

Crystallography  and  mineralogy  might  furnish  abundant 
materials  for  my  subject ;  but  want  of  time  compels  me  to  pass 
them  by  ;  and  I  can  only  add  a  few  things  from  geology  —  a 
science  so  abounding  in  marvels  that  a  late  popular  writer 
denominates  his  work  on  that  subject  the  Wonders  of  Geology. 

A  careful  examination  of  all  the  rocks  in  the  earth's  crust, 
accessible  to  man,  results  in  the  conclusion,  that  the  whole 
crust  of  the  globe  —  at  least  several  miles  thick,  and  probably 
to  its  centre  —  has  undergone  an  entire  change,  and  most  of 
the  rocks  several  changes,  since  their  creation.  The  unstrat- 
ified  rocks,  which  probably  form  the  whole  of  the  interior  of 
the  globe,  have  been  melted,  as  all  admit.  The  stratified  class, 
lying  above  the  unstratified,  have  been  worn  from  the  latter, 
and  then  deposited  in  water.  Afterwards,  they  have  been 
solidified  by  heat,  and,  some  of  them  so  nearly  melted  as  to 
become  crystallized,  constituting  the  metamorphic  rocks.  The 
loose  materials  now  covering  the  surface  have  also  been  sub 
sequently  worn  off  by  atmospheric  and  aqueous  agencies, 
from  whatever  rocks  were  exposed.  So  that  probably  no 
particle  in  the  earth  has  now  the  form  in  which  it  was  ori^i- 


WITH    THE   WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  177 

nally  created.  How  different  this  from  the  common  views  of 
the  earth's  condition  ! 

A  second  conclusion,  forced  upon  the  practical  geologist, 
is,  that  the  continents  of  our  globe  have  been  for  long  periods, 
and  most  of  them  several  times,  beneath  the  ocean,  and  have 
been  subsequently  elevated  from  thence,  or  the  waters  have 
been  drained  off.  At  least  two  thirds  of  these  continents 
are  covered  by  rocks,  thousands  of  feet  thick,  abounding  in 
the  remains  of  sea  animals  and  plants,  which  lived  near  where 
they  are  now  found,  and  could  not  have  been  drifted  far.  To 
accumulate  materials,  with  their  fossil  contents,  several  miles 
thick,  must  have  required  immense  periods  of  time.  The 
fractured  and  upturned  condition  of  most  of  the  older  rocks 
proves  that  they  have  been  elevated  by  some  internal  force, 
acting  vertically  or  laterally,  to  form  continents.  But  in 
some  places  the  strata,  especially  the  newest,  have  never 
been  disturbed,  and  in  such  cases  it  seems  most  probable  that 
the  waters  have  been  drained  off.  Again,  we  have  evidence 
often  of  the  subsidence  of  the  same  continent  that  had  long 
been  above  the  waters,  and  then  a  second  emergence.  Nay, 
three,  and  even  more  vertical  movements  of  this  sort  are 
sometimes  shown  by  the  geological  monuments.  Indeed,  we 
have  proof  that  existing  continents  are  now  experiencing  sim 
ilar  changes,  in  some  places  rising,  and  in  others  falling,  yet 
so  slowly  as  to  be  unnoticed,  save  by  the  most  careful  ob 
servation. 

These  vertical  changes  have  not  been  effected  without 
causing  a  vast  amount  of  erosion  at  the  earth's  surface. 
While  the  continents  were  below  the  ocean,  this  work  was 
aided  in  high  latitudes  by  enormous  icebergs,  charged  with 
boulders,  and  driven  by  the  currents  along  the  surface, 
grinding  down  its  salient  parts,  and  sweeping  along  the 


178  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

abraded  materials,  even  hundreds  of  miles  from  their  original 
beds.  The  grooves  and  polished  surfaces  thus  produced  still 
remain  in  such  countries  as  the  northern  parts  of  the  United 
States.  Scotland,  and  Scandinavia,  wherever  the  rock  has  not 
been  decomposed,  and  the  huge  boulders  lie  every  where 
strewed  along  the  course  of  these  ancient  icebergs. 

As  the  continents  rose,  lakes  and  rivers  would  be  formed, 
whose  currents  would  bring  together  and  accumulate  those 
large  deposits  of  sand  and  gravel,  which  in  our  country  show 
themselves  in  the  form  of  old  beaches,  ridges,  and  terraces, 
which  can  be  found  at  least  two  thousand  feet  above  the  pres 
ent  ocean,  and  which  attest  unequivocally  the  former  presence 
of  the  ocean,  and  the  gradual  drainage  of  the  land. 

The  amount  of  abrasion  by  these  various  causes  has  been 
very  great.  In  Great  Britain,  —  in  South  Wales,  for  instance, 
—  nearly  ten  thousand  feet  in  thickness  have  been  worn  away/ 
Indeed,  it  is  a  moderate  estimate  to  say  that  more  matter  has 
been  swept  into  the  ocean  from  England  and  Scotland  than 
now  remains  above  the  waters.  The  same  is  doubtless  true 
in  this  country,  although  the  observations  here  have  not  been 
so  accurately  made. 

How  deeply  interesting  to  every  ingenuous  mind  must  it  be 
to  trace  out  on  the  earth's  surface  the  marks  of  these  stupen 
dous  and  wonderful  changes  !  They  lie  scattered  along  every 
man's  path ;  yet  how  few  have  an  eye  open  to  see  them  ! 
How  many  would  prefer  the  baseless  visions  of  romance  to 
these  mementos  of  the  earth's  wonderful  history ! 

But  geology  has  other  wonders.  Wherever  on  the  globe 
the  temperature  of  deep  excavations  has  been  ascertained,  — 
and  the  experiment  has  been  made  at  hundreds  of  places  in 
Europe  and  America,  both  in  mines  and  Artesian  wells,  to  the 
depth  of  two  thousand  feet,  —  the  heat  has  been  found  to 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  179 

increase  at  the  mean  rate  of  one  degree  for  every  forty-five 
feet.  At  this  rate,  water  would  boil  at  the  depth  of  a  little 
more  than  a  mile,  and  all  rocks  would  be  melted  at  the  depth 
of  sixty  miles.  Shall  we,  therefore,  conclude  that  all  the 
internal  parts  of  the  earth  are  actually  in  an  incandescent, 
melted  state  ?  Many  of  the  ablest  geologists  have  not  seen 
how  they  could  escape  this  conclusion,  especially  when  they 
see  how  it  explains  the  spheroidal  figure  of  the  earth  ;  also 
the  phenomena  of  active  and  extinct  volcanoes ;  the  protru 
sion  of  the  unstratified  rocks ;  the  numerous  elevations  of 
mountains  and  continents  that  have  taken  place,  and  the  fact 
that  a  tropical  climate  once  prevailed  in  the  northern  re 
gions  of  the  globe,  even  to  the  arctic  circle.  Besides,  it 
has  been  proved  by  the  profound  mathematical  researches  of 
Baron  Fourier,  that  even  though  all  the  internal  parts  of  the 
earth,  below  the  depth  of  eighteen  or  twenty  miles,  are  five 
hundred  times  hotter  than  boiling  water,  —  that  is,  in  a  melted 
state,  —  it  would  not  increase  the  temperature  at  the  surface 
more  than  one  degree  in  two  hundred  thousand  years.  So 
that  even  if  such  be  the  case,  it  cannot  sensibly  affect  the 
climate.  Although,  therefore,  it  would  be  presumptive  to  say 
that  this  doctrine  of  internal  heat  is  as  well  established  as  the 
Newtonian  doctrine  of  gravitation,  yet  every  candid  mind 
will  acknowledge  that  it  bears  the  strongest  marks  of  proba 
bility,  and  that  it  lacks  but  little  of  being  placed  among  the 
settled  principles  of  science.  And  yet  what  an  immense  and 
startling  conclusion ! 

Still  more  certainly  demonstrated  is  another  related  con 
clusion,  viz.,  that  the  whole  globe  in  early  times  was  in  a 
melted  state,  and  has  been  slowly  cooling  ever  since.  It  is 
certain  that  its  internal  parts  are  now  at  a  higher  temperature 
than  the  surface,  and  that  the  planetary  space  around  the 


180  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

earth  is  as  low  as  70°  below  zero  on  Fahrenheit's  scale.  The 
laws  of  heat  show,  therefore,  that  the  process  of  refrigeration 
must  be  now  going  on,  and  however  little  heat  now  escapes, 
it  increases  as  we  run  backward  through  past  ages,  until  we 
reach  a  period  when  it  must  have  been  great  enough  to  have 
melted  all  known  substances.  And  that  such  a  state  of  things 
once  existed,  the  character  of  the  rocks  demonstrates.  For  it 
is  agreed  on  all  hands  that  all  the  unstratified  formations  were 
once  melted.  Almost  equally  unanimous  is  the  opinion  that 
the  stratified  rocks,  whether  crystalline  or  sedimentary,  were 
derived  chiefly  by  abrasion  from  the  unstratified.  The  sphe 
roidal  figure  of  the  earth,  exactly  such  as  would  be  taken  by 
a  fluid  globe  revolving  with  the  velocity  of  the  earth,  confirms 
this  conclusion.  And  so  do  the  facts  as  to  the  tropical  and 
ultra-tropical  character  of  the  organic  remains  in  the  older 
rocks  in  high  latitudes.  Original  fluidity  and  subsequent  re 
frigeration  are  seemingly  the  only  theory  that  will  explain  the 
elevation  and  subsidence  of  continents  and  mountain  ranges. 
Moreover,  the  slow  passage  of  worlds  from  a  liquid  and  even 
a  gaseous  to  a  solid  state,  seems  to  be  a  law  of  the  material 
universe.  So  that  really  the  evidence  appears  to  be  over 
whelming,  to  prove  the  early  igneous  fluidity  of  the  earth. 
And  scientific  men  will  not  long  hesitate,  if  some  of  them  now 
do,  to  place  this  among  the  demonstrated  verities  of  philoso 
phy,  as  the  basis  of  reasoning  in  physics  and  in  religion. 

But  after  all,  probably  the  history  of  the  remains  of  animals 
and  plants,  found  buried  hundreds  and  thousands  of  feet  deep 
in  the  rocks,  and  often  converted  into  stone,  is  generally  re 
garded  as  the  most  interesting  part  of  geology.  In  Great 
Britain  the  rocks  containing  these  relics  are  from  ten  to 
eleven  miles  thick,  and  in  this  country  much  thicker.  Not 
less  than  30,000  species  of  animals  and  plants  have  already 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  181 

been  found  in  the  rocks ;  and  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
near  the  top  of  the  series,  chiefly  in  clay  and  marl,  they  are 
different,  often  widely,  from  those  now  living  on  the  globe  ; 
and  hence  the  conclusion  seems  irresistible,  that  the  fossil 
species  must  have  lived  and  died  before  the  present  races  had 
a  being.  Moreover,  on  comparing  together  the  remains  in 
the  different  groups  of  rocks,  they  are  found  to  be  so  entirely 
unlike  as  to  prove  that  they  could  not  have  been  contempo 
raries  ;  and  hence  the  conclusion  is,  that  several  successive 
groups  of  animals  and  plants  have  been  created,  and  after 
occupying  the  earth  for  a  long  period,  have  been  destroyed 
to  make  room  for  another  group,  better  fitted  to  the  altered 
condition  of  the  surface  ;  and  that  at  least  five  or  six  changes 
of  this  sort  took  place  before  the  creation  of  man  and  his  con 
temporaries.  Nor  do  geologists  suppose  that  this  view  con 
flicts  with  revelation.  For  although  Moses  fixes  the  date  of 
the  creation  of  the  present  races  of  organic  beings  on  the 
earth,  which  appeared  about  6000  years  ago,  he  does  not  fix 
the  time  of  the  creation  of  the  globe ;  which  he  says  took 
place  in  the  beginning,  —  a  term  perfectly  indefinite  as  to 
time, — and  therefore  between  that  event  and  the  appearance 
of  men  upon  it,  immense  periods  might  have  rolled  away, 
during  which  the  fossil  races  might  have  lived  and  died.  And 
that  those  periods  must  have  been  immensely  long,  no  one 
conversant  with  the  details  of  geology  can  doubt,  although 
the  proof  cannot  be  here  given.  What  enlarged  and  refresh 
ing  views  does  this  theory  exhibit  to  us  of  the  plans  and  be 
nevolence  of  the  Deity ! 

Another  interesting  conclusion  on  this  subject  is,  that  when 
these   fossil  animals  and   plants  lived,  the  climate   of  these 
northern  regions  must  have  been  tropical,  or  even  ultra-trop 
ical.     They  are  often  much  larger  than  their  representatives 
16 


182  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

of  the  same  races  that  now  live  between  the  tropics  ;  and 
often  perfect  giants  compared  with  the  pygmy  races  that  are 
now  found  in  northern  regions. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  animal  of  the  saurian  tribe 
was  the  iguanodon  —  an  enormous  reptile  that  lived  on  land 
and  fed  on  vegetables,  and  resembled  the  iguana  of  the  West 
Indies.  The  average  length  of  this  animal  was  thirty  feet, 
and  its  circumference  fourteen  feet.  I  thought  it  might  give 
a  more  impressive  idea  of  this  reptile  to  exhibit  a  drawing  of 
it  of  the  natural  size.  (Exhibited  in  the  lecture.) 

I  have  no  doubt  but  this  drawing  gives  a  tolerably  accurate 
idea  of  this  huge  animal,  although  of  course  less  perfect  than 
if  the  living  specimen  had  stood  before  the  artist.  It  shows 
you  what  sort  of  inhabitants  had  possession  of  Great  Britain 
before  the  Anglo-Saxons.  The  largest  analogous  reptile  now 
living  there  is  only  a  few  inches  in  length.  How  different 
must  have  been  the  climate  and  vegetation  of  that  country 
from  what  they  now  are,  to  nourish  such  monsters  !  I  do  not 
think  there  is  any  evidence  that  this  animal  was  very  ferocious 
and  savage,  and  therefore  I  have  had  his  organ  of  benevo 
lence  drawn  large.  Nevertheless,  I  confess  that  the  drawing 
strongly  reminds  me  of  Milton's  description  of  Satan  :  — 

"With  head  uplift  above  the  waves, 
That  sparkling  blazed,  his  other  parts  besides 
Prone  on  the  flood,  extended  long  and  large, 
Lay  floating  many  a  rood,  in  bulk  as  huge 
As  whom  the  fables  name  of  monstrous  size, 
Titanian  or  earth-born,  that  warred  on  Jove ; 
Briareos,  or  Typhon,  whom  the  den 
By  ancient  Tarsus  held,  or  that  sea  beast, 
Leviathan,  whom  God  of  all  his  works 
Created  hugest  that  sv.im  the  ocean  stream." 

In  the  valley  of  Connecticut  River  especially,  but  also  in 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  183 

several  other  places  in  this  country,  and  in  Europe,  the  tracks 
of  a  large  number  of  animals  have  been  found  in  the  sand 
stone,  and  some  of  them  are  of  an  extraordinary  character. 
In  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  not  less  than  sixty  species 
have  been  brought  to  light,  twelve  or  fifteen  of  which  were 
made  by  four-legged,  but  the  rest  by  two-legged  animals  ; 
and  some  of  these  must  have  been  as  gigantic  and  heteroclitic 
as  any  that  have  been  disinterred  in  any  country.  Some  of 
them  appear  to  have  been  three-toed  birds,  with  feet  sixteen 
to  eighteen  inches  long,  with  a  stride  from  four  to  six  feet. 
Another  was  a  biped,  with  four  toes,  and  a  foot  about  twenty 
inches  long  —  apparently  a  two-legged  frog,  with  a  foot  two 
or  three  times  as  large  as  that  of  an  elephant !  Another  track 
indicates  an  animal  with  three  forward  toes  some  fifteen  inches 
long,  and  a  small  hind  toe  ;  and  though  a  biped,  its  tail  has 
left  a  distinct  trace  on  the  rock.  Such  animals  have  no  rep 
resentatives  among  living  races,  yet  they  were  once  common 
along  this  river. 

With  what  interest  and  enthusiasm  does  the  antiquary  open 
and  attempt  to  decipher  and  arrange  the  mutilated  rolls  of 
some  ancient  papyrus  that  has  just  been  brought  to  light,  and 
whose  contents  reveal  a  new  and  an  earlier  chapter  in  a  na 
tion's  history,  or  tell  of  the  former  existence  of  some  race 
before  unknown !  Shall  not  the  geologist  be  pardoned  if  he 
indulges  some  of  the  same  feelings  when  he  discovers  and  can 
read,  even  though  imperfectly,  archives  of  far  more  ancient 
date,  bring  fresh  before  his  mind  races  of  animals,  new  and 
peculiar,  that  tenanted  the  globe  untold  ages  before  man  be 
came  its  possessor  ?  If  an  event  becomes  more  interesting 
the  farther  it  is  thrown  back  into  the  past,  geological  facts 
must  in  this  respect  take  the  precedence  of  all  others.  For 
the  most  ancient  event  in  chronology  —  the  six  days'  work  of 


184  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

creation  —  I  had  almost  said  is  the  most  recent  in  geology. 
From  thence  we  wander  back  through  a  duration  which  can 
be  measured  only  by  the  succession  of  events,  and  not  by 
chronological  cycles,  except  to  ascertain  from  existing  agen 
cies  that  the  intervening  periods  have  been  vastly  long.  Then, 
too,  the  records,  which  the  geologist  digs  from  the  rocks,  of 
animal  and  vegetable  existence  at  immeasurably  remote  pe 
riods,  are  often  as  fresh  as  if  intombed  yesterday.  Their 
most  delicate  parts  —  even  the  eye  in  some  instances  —  are 
as  perfect  as  when  the  animal  was  alive,  and  the  footmarks, 
which  he  sees  following  one  another  in  succession,  are  as  dis 
tinct  as  those  of  living  animals  passing  over  the  mud  or  snow 
before  his  eyes  ;  while  the  pattering  of  a  shower,  that  fell  on 
the  same  surface  thousands  of  ages  ago,  is  as  fresh  before  him 
as  if  every  drop  had  been  instantly  petrified. 

How  many  millions  of  men  have  spent  their  days,  and  final 
ly  sacrificed  their  lives,  in  order  to  leave  some  memento  of 
their  labors  that  would  go  down  to  posterity  !  and  yet  not  a 
vestige  of  their  existence  remains  upon  the  earth  !  But  the 
birds  and  reptiles  that  passed  over  the  surface  long  before  the 
globe  was  fit  for  the  residence  of  man,  have  left  marks  of 
their  transit  which  can  never  be  effaced.  The  proudest  mon 
uments  of  human  art  will  moulder  do\vn  and  disappear  ;  but 
as  long  as  there  are  eyes  to  behold  them,  the  sandstone  of  the 
Connecticut  valley  will  never  cease  to  remind  future  genera 
tions  of  the  gigantic  races  that  passed  over  it  when  in  a  half 
formed  state. 

Reptiles  and  birds,  a  problem  ye  have  solved 
Man  never  has  —  to  leave  a  trace  on  earth 
Too  deep  for  time  and  fate  to  wear  away. 

It  would  be  appropriate  to  my  subject  to  indulge  the  imagi- 


WITH    1HE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  185 

nation,  for  a  few  moments,  in  viewing  science  prospectively ; 
that  is,  in  predicting  from  its  past  history  its  future  triumphs. 
But  I  am  admonished  that  your  patience  has  already  been 
severely  taxed,  and  can,  therefore,  only  allude  to  a  very  few 
prospective  applications  of  science  to  the  welfare  and  happi 
ness  of  society. 

Notwithstanding  the  wonders  which  steam  is  accomplishing 
in  our  day,  whoever  will  compare  the  description  of  the  first 
steam  engine  invented  by  the  Marquis  of  Worcester,  in  1663, 
with  those  which  now  sweep  with  giant  strength  over  land  and 
sea,  will  be  satisfied  that  it  has  still  greater  triumphs  to  achieve. 
But  the  chemist  is  conversant  with  several  agents  of  analogous 
character,  but  of  far  greater  power  ;  and  he  cannot  but  con 
fidently  expect  that  the  time  is  not  distant  when  some  of 
these  will  take  the  place  of  steam  ;  because  safer,  more  pow 
erful,  less  costly,  and  more  easily  managed.  Indeed,  I  know 
of  but  one  thing,  and  that  is  the  resistance  of  the  air,  that  will 
prevent  the  attainment  of  a  velocity  by  the  locomotive  and  the 
boat  indefinitely  greater  than  that  now  attained. 

If  a  lecturer  twenty  years  ago  had  predicted  what  is  now 
daily  witnessed  in  hundreds  of  electric  telegraph  offices,  he 
would  have  been  looked  upon  as  a  visionary  dreamer.  I  well 
remember  how  I  trembled  for  my  reputation  as  a  sane  man, 
when  I  uttered  the  following  sentence,  in  a  lecture  written 
about  the  time  of  the  earliest  experiments  with  the  telegraph 
by  Professor  Wheatstone  in  England,  and  Professor  Morse  in 
this  country  :  "  There  is  every  reason  to  believe,"  I  said, 
"that  by  Professor  Morse's  telegraph,  which  "he  has  already 
tried  over  an  extent  of  a  mile  or  two,  information  will  be  con 
veyed  as  fast  as  a  printer  can  set  up  types.  So  that  were 
such  a  train  laid  between  Washington  and  this  place,  [Salem,] 
the  president's  message,  or  any  interesting  speech,  might  be 


186  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

in  print  at  an  office  here  within  an  hour  or  two  after  its  de 
livery."  Such  a  result  is  now  so  constantly  realized,  that  it 
has  ceased  to  excite  any  special  attention,  and  the  civilized 
world  are  now  confidently  anticipating  the  time  as  near  at 
hand  when  these  marvellous  wires  shall  encircle  the  globe, 
and  two  or  three  hours  suffice  to  bring  intelligence  from  the 
antipodes. 

What  we  may  reasonably  anticipate  from  the  extraordinary 
developments  of  photography,  it  is  difficult  to  say.  It  would 
not  be  very  strange,  however,  if  by  combining  galvanism  with 
photography,  the  same  picture,  which  is  sketched  by  the  sun's 
chemical  rays,  should  be  engraved  by  electricity.  Indeed,  an 
approximation  to  such  a  result  has  already  been  attained. 

Since  chemists  can  ascertain  the  elements  of  the  most  use 
ful  substances,  the  prospect  seems  fair  that  they  will  be  able 
to  unite  these  elements  yet  more  extensively  than  they  have 
done,  so  as  to  form  the  substances.  And,  indeed,  within  a 
few  years  they  have  ascertained  that  linen  rags,  by  the  action 
of  a  cheap  acid,  will  produce  more  than  their  weight  of  sugar, 
and  that  a  coarse  but  palatable  bread  can  be  made  of  saw 
dust.  Who  can  tell  how  soon  the  time  may  come  when  the 
poor  man  will  only  need  to  purchase  a  cord  of  wood  to  sup 
ply  his  family  with  bread  during  the  winter  ?  * 

The  fear  has  often  been  indulged  that  many  of  the  colder 
countries  of  the  globe  must  ultimately  become  nearly  unin 
habitable,  from  a  failure  of  fuel.  An  application  of  a  geo 
logical  discovery  in  Germany  has,  it  seems  to  me,  thrown  a 
gleam  of  light  on  this  point.  The  rapid  increase  of  heat  as 
we  descend  into  the  earth,  and  the  ease  with  whicli  Artesian 
wells  are  formed  to  a  great  depth,  led  a  manufacturer  to  bore 

*  Herschel's  Discourse,  &c.,  p.  48. 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  187 

one,  that  he  might  bring  warm  water  to  keep  his  machinery 
free  from  ice  during  the  winter.  Not  only  did  he  succeed  in 
this  object,  but  by  conducting  the  water  in  open  pipes  through 
his  whole  establishment,  it  gave  off  heat  enough  to  render 
fires  unnecessary.  Is  not  here  an  inexhaustible  source  of  heat 
accessible  to  human  industry  and  ingenuity  ? 

Tn  my  view,  the  most  interesting  thought  connected  with 
anticipated  improvements  in  science  and  art,  is  the  large 
amount  of  leisure  which  will  be  thereby  afforded  to  the  great 
mass  of  mankind  for  intellectual  and  moral  improvement. 
But  I  do  not  believe  that  Providence  will  allow  these  dis 
coveries  to  come  out  fully  till  men  learn  how  to  improve  that 
leisure  aright.  For  if  they  only  foster  idleness,  they  will 
prove  a  greater  curse  than  a  blessing. 

But  I  forbear,  lest  I  should  seem  to  be  venturing  too  far 
into  the  regions  of  the  uncertain  and  the  fanciful. 

I  have  now  presented  before  you  specimens,  selected  from 
the  different  sciences,  of  the  wonders  which  they  can  offer  to 
the  youthful  mind,  as  a  substitute  for  the  wonders  of  romance. 
And  can  I  doubt  what  will  be  the  choice  of  every  noble  and 
ingenuous  soul  ?  Docs  it  need  any  analysis  of  the  labors  of 
the  most  celebrated  writers  of  fiction  to  make  every  one  feel 
how  infinitely  superior  is  nature  to  all  their  fancies  ?  And 
science  is  the  history  of  nature  —  the  history  of  the  works  of 
the  Deity.  And  shall  the  inventions  of  man  come  into  com 
petition  with  the  inventions  of  the  Deity  ? 

"  O  Nature  !  how  in  every  charm  supreme  ! 

Whose  votaries  feast  on  raptures  ever  new  ! 
O  for  the  fire  and  voice  of  seraphim, 
To  sing  thy  glories  with  devotion  due !  " 

It  has  not  been  my  intention  to   make  this  audience  ac- 


188  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

quainted  with  the  sciences  upon  which  I  have  touched.  But 
I  wished  to  give  a  sample  of  the  wonders  that  will  meet  him 
at  every  step,  who  resolutely  engages  in  the  study  of  any  de 
partment  of  science.  I  say  a  sample  only;  for  the  farther 
he  advances,  the  more  enchanting  will  the  prospect  become, 
and  the  richer  and  more  plenteous  the  gems  that  will  reward 
his  search.  But  not  so  with  the  devotee  of  romance.  Though 
for  a  time  he  may  seem  to  be  quaffing  nectar,  yet,  ere  long, 
to  use  the  graphic  language  of  inspiration,  it.  shall  even  be  as 
wlien  a  hungry  man  drea?neth,  and  behold  he  eateth  ;  but  he 
awaketh,  and  his  soul  is  empty  :  or  as  when  a  thirsty  man 
dreameth,and  behold  he  drinketh ;  but  he  awaketh,  and  behold 
he  is  faint,  and  his  soul  hath  appetite. 

Will  it  not  be  pardoned  if  one  who  for  thirty  years  has  been 
almost  constantly  engaged  in  the  examination  of  nature  should 
bear  testimony,  from  his  own  experience,  to  the  charms  and 
pleasures  of  science  ?  I  know  it  would  be  vanity  for  me  to 
pretend  to  a  profound  acquaintance  with  science,  or  to  distinc 
tion  in  it.  But  I  cannot  feel  that  it  is  vanity  to  profess  a  strong 
attachment  to  it.  Indeed,  how  ungrateful  in  me  not  to  rec 
ommend  with  enthusiasm  that  which  has  spread  before  me 
so  many  and  such  delightful  prospects  along  the  path  of  life  ; 
which  has  furnished  a  delightful  retreat  from  the  agitations 
and  vexations  of  the  world  ;  which  has  thrown  so  many  gleams 
of  light  into  the  darkest  part  of  my  path  ;  which  has  led  me 
to  many  a  clear  and  sparkling  fountain,  and  permitted  me  to 
breathe  an  atmosphere  of  peace  and  happiness  !  Often  have 
I  known  the  time,  when,  through  feeble  health,  the  languid  eye 
looked  out  with  indifference,  if  not  absolute  disgust,  upon  all 
the  ordinary  objects  of  life  ;  but  never  has  a  view  of  nature, 
dressed  in  the  garb  of  science,  failed  to  rally  back  the  sinking 
powers,  relume  the  leaden  eye,  and  diffuse  animation  and  joy 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  189 

through  the  soul.  A  distinguished  writer  of  fiction  and  false 
philosophy,  in  chagrin  and  disgust,  expressed  a  regret  that  he 
had  ever  been  born.  But  leaving  every  thing  else  out  of  the 
account,  I  can  bless  the  day  in  which  I  was  born,  because  I 
have  enjoyed  so  much  in  studying  the  works  of  nature.  And 
when  I  see  so  many  noble-minded  youth  placing  all  their 
hopes  of  earthly  happiness,  some  in  the  hot  strife  after  polit 
ical  distinction,  some  in  the  possession  of  wealth,  equipage, 
and  power,  some  in  following  the  tasteless  round  of  fashion 
able  amusements,  and  above  all,  when  I  see  some  whose 
chief  source  of  happiness  lies  in  a  devoted  attachment  to  fic 
titious  literature,  how  gladly  would  I  win  them  into  those  fields 
of  science,  at  which  we  have  this  evening  glanced,  and  thus 
save  them  from  the  disappointment  and  disgust  which  I  know 
they  will  ere  long  experience,  and  which  may  lead  them  also 
to  lament  that  they  were  ever  born ! 

Many,  many  are  the  bright  eyes  that  are  turned  upon  me 
at  this  moment ;  eyes  sparkling  with  health  and  hope.  Must 
any  of  these  be  palsied  by  the  withering  touch  of  such  disap 
pointment  ?  O,  if  their  possessors  will  not  place  their  hopes 
of  happiness  in  factitious  and  unnatural  pursuits,  but  in  a 
knowledge  and  a  love  of  nature,  they  will  have  a  refuge  amid 
all  the  storms  and  fluctuations  of  life,  and  those  eyes  may  be 
bright  and  sparkling  even  amid  the  frosts  of  age. 

"  0,  how  canst  thou  renounce  the  boundless  store 
Of  charms  which  Nature  to  her  votary  yields  ?  — 
The  warbling  woodland,  the  resounding  shore, 
The  pomp  of  groves,  and  garniture  of  fields ; 
All  that  the  genial  ray  of  morning  gilds, 
And  all  that  echoes  to  the  song  of  even  ; 
All  that  the  mountain's  sheltering  bosom  shields, 
And  all  the  dread  magnificence  of  heaven  :  — 

O,  how  canst  thou  renounce  and  hope  to  be  forgiven  !  " 


190  THE    WONDERS    OF    SCIENCE    COMPARED 

I  would  not  undervalue  other  sources  of  happiness,  which 
are  mercifully  provided  for  us  in  this  world.  I  only  wisn  to 
show  that  the  pursuit  of  science,  as  a  means  of  happiness, 
has  strong  claims  upon  the  attention  ;  that  it  does  not  interfere 
with  any  other  innocent  enjoyment ;  that  it  is  able  effectually 
to  overcome  that  appetite  for  artificial  excitement  and  dissipa 
tion  which  makes  so  many  miserable  ;  that  it  furnishes  in 
youth  a  rich  fund  of  happiness  ;  to  the  man  in  middle  life,  a 
delightful  relaxation  from  business  and  professional  duties ; 
and  that,  unlike  most  other  sources  of  enjoyment,  the  relish 
for  it  grows  stronger  by  age,  so  that  in  advanced  life,  when 
the  common  objects  of  life  cease  to  interest,  those  of  science 
still  possess  the  charm  of  novelty. 

Let  me  not,  however,  be  understood  to  imply  that  there  are 
not  pursuits  and  pleasures  of  a  more  noble  and  satisfying 
character  than  even  those  of  science.  I  would  not  bring  them 
into  competition  with  the  results  of  active  benevolence  and 
piety.  But  the  two  pursuits  are  not  inconsistent  with  each 
other  ;  and  he  who  chooses  can  make  the  pleasures  of  both 
his  own.  Such  a  man  has  reached  the  highest  point  of  earth 
ly  happiness.  For  every  wonder  of  science  now  becomes 
invested  with  the  double  interest  of  being  beautiful  in  itself 
and  an  exhibition  of  divine  wisdom.  And  then,  what  de 
lightful  anticipations  crowd  upon  his  mind  !  He  soon  learns 
that  even  the  veteran  in  science  can  obtain  but  little  more 
than  a  glimpse  of  nature  in  this  world,  and  that  much  cloud 
and  darkness  rest  upon  the  brightest  spots.  Yet  he  knows 
that  the  works  of  the  Deity  will  form  objects  of  study  in  a 
future  state,  where  nothing  intercepts  the  pure  rays  of  truth, 
and  that  those  works  are  vast  enough  to  fill  and  feast  the  soul 
through  the  round  of  eternal  ages.  Such  hopes  as  these  con 
stitute  the  true  nobility  of  man  :  — 


WITH    THE    WONDERS    OF    ROMANCE.  191 

"  For  how  great 

To  mingle  interests,  converse,  amities, 
With  all  the  sons  of  reason  scattered  wide 
Through  habitable  space,  wherever  born  ! 
To  call  heaven's  rich,  unfathomable  mines 
Our  own  !    To  rise  in  science  as  in  bliss  ! 
To  read  creation,  read  its  mighty  plan, 
In  the  bare  bosom  of  the  Deity ! 
In  an  eternity,  what  scenes  shall  strike ! 
Adventures  thicken  !  novelties  surprise  ! 
What  webs  of  wonder  shall  unravel  there  ! 
What  full  day  pour  on  all  the  paths  of  heaven, 
And  light  th'  Almighty's  footsteps  in  the  deep  !  " 

YOUNG,  N  6. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  BEARINGS  OF  MAN'S 
CREATION. 


And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul. 

Genesis  ii.  7- 

SCEPTICAL  minds  are  fond  of  selecting  and  giving  prom 
inence  to  those  facts,  historical  or  scientific,  that  have  an  un 
favorable  bearing  upon  religion.  This  is  natural  ;  and  why 
should  not  the  friends  of  religion  sometimes  illustrate  subjects 
derived  from  the  same  fields,  which  strengthen  our  faith,  and 
clarify  our  views  of  the  great  principles  of  natural  and  re 
vealed  truth  ?  Guided  by  this  principle,  I  propose  this  morn 
ing  to  discuss  the  religious  bearings  of  man's  creation. 

Of  this  event  we  have  two  records  ;  the  one  revealed,  the 
other  scientific.  Let  us  look  at  the  details  of  both,  and  then 
we  shall  be  able  to  see  the  religious  relations  of  the  subject. 

The  scriptural  account  of  man's  creation  is  full,  explicit, 
and  peculiar ;  more  so  than  any  other  event  of  the  six  days' 
work.  I  shall  call  your  attention  to  a  few  only  of  the  prom 
inent  facts  therein  developed ;  particularly  such  as  have  a 
parallel  in  the  scientific  history  of  our  world. 

1.  Revelation  teaches  us  that  man  was  the  last  of  the  ani 
mals  created. 

None  of  them  were  produced  till  the  fifth  day,  when  the 

(192) 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION.          193 

waters  were  commanded  to  bring  forth  abundantly  the  mov 
ing  creature  that  hath  life,  and  fowl  that  may  fly  above  the 
earth  in  the  open  firmament  of  heaven.  And  God  created 
tfrcat  whales,  and  every  living  thing  that  movcth,  which  the 
waters  brought  forth  abundantly  after  their  kind,  and  every 
winged  fowl  after  his  kind.  At  the  beginning  of  the  sixth 
day,  God  also  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living  crea 
ture  after  his  kind,  cattle  and  creeping  thing  and  beast  of 
the  earth  after  his  kind.  Next  follows,  as  the  closing  act  of 
the  demiurgic  week,  the  introduction  of  man. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  scientific  history  of  our  race,  we 
shall  find  essentially  the  same  account  of  its  origin  as  revela 
tion  presents.  If  Science  cannot  say  positively  that  man  was 
the  very  last  of  the  animals  created,  she  can  and  does  say, 
that  he  was  among  the  most  recent.  The  arguments  to  prove 
this  point  are  exceedingly  simple  and  satisfactory.  The  chief 
one  is  this  :  — 

We  find  rocks  in  various  places  on  the  earth  to  have  accu 
mulated  in  the  course  of  past  ages,  to  the  depth  of  eight  or 
ten  miles,  and  in  them  we  find  buried  the  remains  of  the  ani 
mals  and  plants  that  lived  at  the  different  periods  when  the 
successive  strata  were  formed.  Many  new  species  were  in 
troduced  from  time  to  time,  but  nowhere  on  the  globe  do  we 
discover  human  remains  till  we  rise  to  the  newest  formations ; 
not  in  fact  till  we  reach  the  loose  covering  of  soil,  clay,  and 
gravel  spread  over  the  surface,  and  called  alluvium,  whose 
lower  part  has  been  more  usually  denominated  drift,  or  dilu 
vium.  This  deposit  is*  never  more  than  a  few  hundred  feet 
thick,  usually  not  over  one  or  two  hundred  ;  and  I  know  of  no 
example  in  which  it  is  pretended  that  human  bones  occur  as 
deep  below  the  surface  as  one  hundred  feet.  Yet  the  whole 
depth  of  rock  from  which  animal  remains  have  been  dug  out 
17 


is  between  50,000  and  60,000  feet,  and  at  least  30,000  spe 
cies  of  animals  differing  from  any  now  alive  have  been  dis 
interred  in  the  rocks.  Yet  man  is  not  among  them.  But  no 
reason  can  be  given  why  he  is  not,  had  he  lived  in  any  of  the 
periods  before  the  alluvial ;  for  his  bones,  being  composed  of 
the  same  materials  as  those  of  other  animals,  would  be  no 
more  subject  to  decay  than  theirs;  as  is  proved,  in  fact,  by 
their  appearance  upon  ancient  battle  fields,  where  they  lie 
mingled  with  those  of  horses  and  elephants. 

The  precise  period  when  man  first  appeared  on  earth  has 
been  a  question  of  deep  interest  among  scientific  men,  and 
their  eyes  have  been  wide  open  to  every  fact  bearing  upon 
the  subject.  In  earlier  times,  when  comparative  anatomy  was  in 
its  infancy,  the  bones  of  other  animals  were  mistaken  for  those 
of  man,  and  in  one  case  a  fossil  man  was  announced  quite 
deep  in  the  rocks,  which  turned  out,  beneath  the  scrutinizing 
glance  of  Cuvicr,  to  be  a  gigantic  salamander  ;  and  the  bones 
of  mammoths  were  in  Switzerland  regarded  as  those  of  giants, 
and  in  England  as  those  of  the  fallen  angels.  But  since  com 
parative  anatomy  has  applied  to  fossil  bones  principles  and 
modes  of  investigation  little  less  certain  than  those  of  math 
ematics,  every  able  geologist  has  abandoned  the  expectation 
of  finding  human  remains  below  the  superficial  deposits,  the 
lowest  of  which  are,  in  a  geological  sense,  very  recent.  In 
the  words  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  "  If  there  be  a  difference  of 
opinion  respecting  the  occurrence  in  certain  deposits  of  the 
remains  of  man  and  his  works,  it  is  always  in  reference  to 
strata  confessedly  of  the  most  modern  order  ;  and  it  is  never 
pretended  that  our  race  coexisted  with  assemblages  of  animals 
and  plants  of  which  all,  or  even  a  large  proportion  of  the  spe 
cies,  are  extinct." 

It  is  well  known  that  geologists  have  divided  those  loose 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION.          195 

deposits  that  cover  the  surface,  and  are  more  or  less  confused 
ly  mingled  together,  into  t\vo  formations,  the  lowest  called 
drift  or  diluvium,  and  the  highest  called  alluvium.  That  hu 
man  remains  exist  in  the  latter  no  one  doubts,  though  it  may 
be  a  question  whether  they  fall  into  the  class  properly  called 
fossils.  But  the  main  question  is,  Do  any  of  these  remains 
occur  as  low  as  the  drift  ?  On  this  question  we  shall  find 
some  diversity  of  opinion.  But  here  let  me  make  one  or  two 
preliminary  remarks.  The  first  is,  that  geologists  are  not  at 
all  agreed  where  drift  ends  and  alluvium  begins ;  so  that  what 
one  calls  drift,  another  calls  alluvium.  Nor  do  I  believe  it 
possible  to  fix  a  line  of  demarcation  between  them,  just  be 
cause  no  such  line  exists  in  nature.  With  Professor  Pictet, 
Sir  Charles  Lyell,  and  others,  I  believe  that  we  ought  to  con 
sider  drift  and  alluvium  as  forming  a  single  series,  and  that 
life  has  not  been  interrupted,  or  entirely  renewed,  but  only 
some  species  destroyed  during  its  deposition. 

Another  remark  is,  that  in  my  own  opinion,  the  causes 
producing  drift  are  still  in  operation,  as  well  as  those  pro 
ducing  alluvium  ;  and  that,  in  fact,  the  two  classes  of  causes 
have  had  a  parallel  operation  from  the  first  ;  and,  therefore, 
the  two  formations  should  be  regarded  as  contemporaneous, 
rather  than  successive.  From  the  earliest  times,  glaciers,  ice 
bergs,  waves  of  translation,  and  landslips  have  been  forming 
drift,  and  are  still  forming  it.  And  so  the  oceans,  lakes,  and 
rivers  have  ever  been  at  work  to  deposit  alluvium.  I  admit 
that  these  causes  have  not  always  acted  with  equal  intensity, 
and  that  the  greater  part  of  drift  is  anterior  to  the  great  body 
of  alluvium.  But  admitting  any  degree  of  parallelism  in  the 
operation  of  these  causes,  the  discovery  of  human  remains  in 
drift  does  not  necessarily  show  them  to  be  of  great  antiquity. 
Their  age  can  be  settled  only  by  settling  that  of  the  deposit 


196          THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

in  which  they  occur.  Moreover,  from  this  unsettled  state  of 
opinion  as  to  these  formations,  it  does  not  follow,  because  one 
observer  announces  human  remains  in  drift,  that  others  would 
admit  them  to  belong  to  that  deposit.  When  such  announce 
ments,  therefore,  are  made,  we  should  draw  no  inference  as 
to  the  antiquity  of  the  remains  till  the  discoverer  has  told  us 
what  he  means  by  drift. 

I  ought,  perhaps,  to  add,  that  there  is  a  like  want  of  agree 
ment  among  able  writers  in  the  meaning  which  they  attach  to 
the  term  fossil.  Originally  it  included  every  thing,  mineral 
as  well  as  organic,  dug  from  the  earth.  Says  one  distin 
guished  writer,  "  Geologists  now  use  the  word  only  to  express 
the  remains  of  animals  and  plants  found  buried  in  the  earth." 
—  Lyell.  Says  another,  "  An  organized  fossil  body  is  one 
which  has  been  buried  in  the  earth  at  an  undetermined  epoch, 
and  has  been  preserved,  or  left  there  unequivocal  traces  of 
its  existence."  —  M.  Dcshayes.  A  third  defines  a  fossil  as 
"  every  organized  body,  or  vestige  of  it,  found  naturally 
buried  in  the  earth's  strata,  in  a  state  different  from  the  nor 
mal  and  actual  conditions  of  existence."  —  M.  D'Orbigny. 
A  fourth  applies  the  word  fossil  to  "  every  organic  body  found 
naturally  buried  in  the  earth,  which  has  been  preserved,  or 
has  left  traces  not  doubtful  of  ijls  existence  ;  provided  that  the 
deposit  in  which  it  occurs  has  been  formed  under  the  influence 
of  circumstances  different  from  those  now  passing  before  our 
eyes."  —  M.  Pictct* 

Now,  some  writers  have  taken  it  for  granted,  that  if  they 
can  only  make  out  that  man  is  found  in  a  fossil  state,  he  must 
have  lived  before  Adam.  But  until  the  meaning  of  this  term 

*  Traite  de  Paleontologie,  par  Professeur  F.  J.  Pictet,  Tome  Premier,  p. 
17.  See  also  Lchrbuch  dcr  Geognosic,  von  Dr.  Carl  Friedrich  Naumann, 
Erster  Band,  p.  812.  Dr.  Naumann's  views  correspond  essentially  with 
those  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell. 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN^S    CREATION.          197 

can  be  made  more  definite  than  it  now  is,  a  fossil  man  is  not 
necessarily  preadamic.  He  may  not  even  be  antediluvian. 

Let  us  now  look  briefly  at  the  most  remarkable  examples 
of  organic  remains  that  have  been  thought  to  prove  the  great 
antiquity  of  the  human  race,  if  not  geologically,  yet  chrono 
logically  considered. 

In  the  British  Museum,  and  the  Royal  Cabinet  in  Paris,  are 
specimens  of  human  skeletons  from  Guadaloupe,  in  solid  rock, 
hard  as  marble.  To  a  person  unfamiliar  with  rocks,  these 
seem  very  striking  examples  of  fossil  men.  But  in  fact  this 
rock  is  daily  forming  in  all  the  West  Indian  Archipelago,  by 
the  cementation  of  fragments  of  corals  and  shells  worn  off 
and  collected  by  the  waves;  and  it  is  not  probable  that  these 
individual  specimens  are  more  than  a  few  hundred  years  old 
—  the  skeletons  perhaps  of  Caribs  or  Galibis,  who  fought  a 
battle  on  the  spot  where  they  were  found,  about  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  most  numerous  examples  of  human  bones,  supposed  to 
£e  fossil,  occur  in  limestone  caverns,  buried  in  mud,  or  stal 
agmite,  with  the  bones  of  other  animals,  recent  and  extinct. 
Such  cases  are  described  in  Greece,  in  several  places  in  the 
south  of  France,  in  Belgium,  in  England,  and  in  Brazil.  The 
bones  are  usually  separated  from  one  another,  and  mixed  up 
with  those  of  extinct  species  of  rhinoceroses,  hyenas,  bears, 
and  other  terrestrial  quadrupeds,  as  well  as  with  those  of  liv 
ing  species.  Still  more  recently  human  remains  have  been 
found  in  the  Suabian  Alps,  in  connection  with  those  of  the 
mastodon,  though  I  cannot  say  whether  these  occur  in  caverns. 

Now,  in  regard  to  all  such  cases,  several  considerations 
should  lead  us  to  be  very  cautious  in  inferring  that  man,  and 
the  extinct  animals  found  in  such  circumstances,  were  con 
temporaries.  For,  in  the  first  place,  these  caverns  were,  for 
17* 


198         THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN*S    CREATION. 

the  most  part,  formed  by  subterranean  streams,  which  carried 
the  bones  into  them  from  without,  and,  therefore,  those  of 
widely  different  periods  might  have  been  mixed  together. 
Again,  earthquakes  often  produce  great  changes  in  these 
streams,  and  mix  up  confusedly  alluvium  and  drift.  Once 
more,  such  caverns  have  in  various  periods  been  tenanted  by 
man  ;  and  there  has  he  buried  his  dead,  while  succeeding 
generations  have  dug  up  their  bones,  and  mixed  them  with 
those  of  the  extinct  animals.  We  need  not  wonder,  there 
fore,  that  the  most  cautious  geologists  have  hesitated  to  admit 
that  in  any  of  the  cases  yet  described,  the  evidence  compels 
us  to  believe  that  the  human  remains  were  deposited  at  the 
same  time  with  those  of  extinct  hyenas,  bears,  and  mastodons. 
In  the  language  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  "  It  is  not  on  the  evi 
dence  of  such  intermixtures  that  we  ought  readily  to  admit, 
either  the  high  antiquity  of  the  human  race,  or  the  recent 
data  of  certain  lost  species  of  quadrupeds." 

In  our  own  country  several  examples  of  fossil  men  have 
been  announced,  of  late,  with  much  confidence.  At  Natchez, 
it  is  said  that  a  human  pelvis  was  found  in  clay,  beneath 
"  a  diluvial  deposit ; "  in  Florida,  a  jaw  and  foot  in  a  con 
glomerate  coral  reef,  limestone,  said  to  be  at  least  ten  thou 
sand  years  old  ;  another  beneath  four  ancient  cypress  swamps, 
near  New  Orleans,  sixteen  feet  below  the  surface,  whose  pe 
riod  of  sepulture  has  been  put  at  57,600  years  ago. 

Every  practical*  geologist  knows  well  how  extremely  uncer 
tain  are  all  such  calculations  of  the  time  requisite  to  form  an 
alluvial  deposit  of  a  given  thickness ;  first,  because  we  have 
so  very  few  data  for  comparison,  and  secondly,  because  the 
work  is  so  very  different  in  some  places  from  what  it  is  in 
others.  Moreover,  the  many  causes  by  which  the  remains  of 
recent  animals  might  become  mixed  with  the  extinct  ones, 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN^S    CREATION.          199 

render  it  necessary  to  scrutinize  all  such  cases  as  the  above, 
with  extreme  care,  before  we  can  confidently  assign  a  very 
high  antiquity  to  these  supposed  fossils ;  and  accordingly, 
most  of  the  ablest  geologists,  who  have  carefully  examined 
the  facts  in  these  examples,  are  not  convinced  of  their  reli 
ableness. 

But  suppose  we  admit  all  that  is  claimed  in  the  cases  that 
have  been  stated,  viz.,  that  human  remains  do  occur  in  such 
situations  as  to  prove  that  man  was  a  contemporary  of  some 
of  the  extinct  races  of  animals  —  will  this  prove  a  higher  an 
tiquity  to  man  than  the  Bible  allows  ? 

Not  necessarily,  I  reply  ;  for  we  have  undoubted  proof 
that  since  the  biblical  epoch  of  man's  creation,  several  large 
animals  have  disappeared  from  the  globe.  In  New  Zealand, 
for  instance,  no  less  than  eleven  species  of  gigantic  birds,  and 
several  other  species  in  Madagascar,  Rodriguez,  and  Bourbon, 
have  become  extinct,  probably  within  a  few  hundred  years. 
For  we  find  their  half  burned  bones  mixed  with  those  of  man 
on  spots  which  were  once  the  scenes  of  cannibal  feasts.  How 
false  the  inference  which  should  hence  make  these  human 
bones  of  very  great  antiquity,  because  found  among  extinct 
animals!  Again,  the  great  mastodon  of  this  country  often 
occurs  buried  in"  our  peat  swamps,  as  at  Newburg,  only  a 
few  feet  below  the  surface  ;  and  apparently,  therefore,  this 
animal  did  not  perish  till  a  very  late  epoch  in  the  alluvial  pe 
riod  ;  nor  is  it  possible  to  show  that  it  may  not  have  been 
alive  since  the  fifth  day's  work  of  creation.  Should  we  then 
even  find  a  human  skeleton  in  the  same  deposit  as  that  of  the 
mastodon,  we  might  still  reasonably  doubt  whether  it  had  a 
preadamic  existence. 

I  trust  that  these  details  will  not  be  regarded  as  inappro 
priate  on  the  Sabbath,  when  it  is  recollected  how  important  to 


200          THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

my  object  it  is  to  show  from  science  the  recent  origin  of  man, 
and  what  strenuous  exertions  are  made  at  the  present  day  to 
establish  his  preadamic  existence.  I  only  regret  that  I  cannot 
go  more  into  details,  but  I  feel  as  if  the  following  positions 
were  incontrovertibly  established. 

First,  that  the  occurrence  of  human  remains  in  drift  does 
not  certainly  show  man's  preadamic  existence. 

Secondly,  neither  is  it  shown  by  finding  his  bones  mixed 
with  those  of  some  extinct  animals. 

But  thirdly,  there  is  too  much  doubt  still  attached  to  all 
cases  of  the  supposed  antediluvian  origin  of  human  remains 
found  in  the  earth,  to  allow  any  one  to  conclude  certainly  that 
they  occur  either  in  ancient  drift,  or  among  extinct  preadamic 
races,  except  by  accident. 

Yet,  fourthly,  admitting  their  occurrence  in  such  circum 
stances,  it  is  still  emphatically  true,  that  according  to  science, 
man  is  among  the  most  recent  of  the  animals  created,  since 
his  remains  have  never  been  found  as  low  as  100  feet,  while 
in  the  more  than  50,000  feet  of  rock  below,  abounding  with 
other  animals,  they  are  not  found.* 

*  It  may  gratify  some  readers,  if,  in  addition  to  the  opinion  of  Sir  Charles 
Lyell,  in  the  text,  I  add  that  of  a  few  other  eminent  geologists,  whose  writ 
ings  happen  to  be  at  hand,  respecting  the  time  of  man's  appearance  on  the 
globe. 

"It  may  be  stated,"  says  Professor  John  Phillips,  "as  a  general  admis 
sion,  that  man  did  not  exist  on  the  globe  during  the  secondary  and  probably 
not  during  the  epoch  of  eocene  and  pleiocene  formations,  and  that  sufficient 
evidence  for  his  coexistence  in  northern  climes  with  the  mammcths  and  hip 
popotami  is  yet  wanting  ;  but  as  the  races  of  oxen,  horses,  camels,  &c.,  had 
then  begun  to  exist,  it  is  not,  perhaps,  an  unreasonable  expectation  that, 
eventually,  this  question  will  be  decided  in  the  affirmative."  —  Phillips' 's 
Manual  of  Geotogy,  p.  438.  London  18.~>-3. 

"  Does  man  exist  in  a  fossil  state  :  "  inquires  M.  Alcide  D'Orbigny..  "  By 
consulting  well-established  facts,  we  have  no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  the  affirma- 


201 

2.  Mem,  according  to  the  inspired  account,  was  placed  at 
the  head  of  all  creatures  on  earth. 

tive,  particularly  in  the  sense  which  we  give  to  the  word  fossil.  (See  text, 
p.  196.)  Now,  since  we  admit  man  to  be  in  a  fossil  condition,  we  may 
inquire  to  what  epoch  his  remains  belong.  The  last  geological  stages  — 
the  Subapennine  and  Fahlunien — which  preceded  the  existing  epoch,  do 
they  show  any  where  traces  of  human  remains  either  in  marine  or  terrestrial 
deposits  ?  We  think  we  can  reply  in  the  negative  ;  for  no  well-established 
fact  will  sustain  the  opinion  that  they  do  occur  therein.  Human  remains 
are  peculiar  to  caverns,  or  osseous  breccias,  or  alluvions.  It  follows  from 
thence  that  fossil  human  remains,  whenever  they  have  been  carefully  ob 
served,  are  met  with,  in  all  cases,  along  with  other  beings  of  the  existing 
epoch,  and  are  fossil  in  contemporaneous  deposits.  Human  bones  are  want 
ing  entirely  in  the  two  last  stages  (geological)  which  have  preceded  our 
own."  —  Cours  Elementaire  de  Paleontologie  ct  de  Geologic,  $c.,  par  M. 
Alcide  D'Orbigny.  Premier  volume,  p.  162.  Paris,  1849. 

"  Have  human  fossils  been  found?  Did  man  appear  on  the  globe  before 
the  present  epoch  ? "  inquires  Professor  Pictet.  "  Such  is  the  important 
question  to  which  modern  science  seems  to  give  a  negative  answer,  although 
at  various  times  it  has  been  judged  otherwise.  The  true  question  appears  to 
me  to  be  the  following :  What  animals  peopled  Europe  when  man  first 
appeared,  and,  by  consequent,  at  what  geological  period  can  his  origin  be 
placed  ?  All  paleontologists,  at  this  day,  are  agreed  that  there  is  no  proof 
of  his  existence  during  the  tertiary  epoch  or  the  anterior  epochs.  All  who 
admit  the  view,  which  I  have  elsewhere  exhibited,  of  the  relations  of  the 
diluvial  and  modern  epochs,  will  know  also  that  this  question  may  be  treated 
without  prejudice,  and  according  to  facts  alone.  I  have  shown,  in  fact,  that 
we  may  probably  regard  these  two  periods  as  forming  together  a  single 
series,  during  which  life  has  been  neither  entirely  interrupted  nor  renewed, 
at  least  in  Europe  ;  and  during  which  partial,  local,  and  successive  inunda 
tions  have  deposited  several  formations,  destroying  only  some  species." 
After  reviewing  the  facts,  Professor  Pictet  concludes,  "  1.  That  man  was  not 
established  in  Europe  at  the  commencement  of  the  diluvial  epoch  ;  2.  That 
some  migrations  probably  took  place  in  the  course  of  the  diluvial  period ; 
3.  That  the  definite  establishment  of  man  in  Europe,  and  the  occupation  of 
that  continent  by  a  numerous  population,  probably  took  place  after  the  great 
inundation  which  deposited  the  rolled  fragments  in  the  caverns  and  on  the 
plains  of  the  continent."  —  Pictct's  Traite  de  Paleontologie,  §<?.,  Tome 
Premier,  p.  145  et  scq.  Seconde  edition.  Paris,  1853. 


202          THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our 
likeness ;  and  let  them  have  dominion  over  the  Jisli  of  the  sea, 
and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over  all 
the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the 
earth.  So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image 
of  God  created  he  him,  male  and  female  created  he  them. 
And  God  blessed  them,  and  God  said  unto  them,  Be  fruitful, 
and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it ;  and 
have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of 
the  air,  and  over  every  living  thing  that  jnoveth  upon  the 
earth. 

Who  is  not  struck  with  the  exalted  character  and  office 
assigned  to  man  in  this  passage  by  his  Creator  ?  And  the 
features  of  his  character  that  give  him  this  preeminence  are 
distinctly  stated.  It  is  not  his  physical  organization  ;  for 
though  fearfully  made  in  this  respect,  he  is  scarcely  superior 
to  some  of  the  monkey  tribe  denominated  quadrumanous,  or 
even  to  the  mammiferous  animals.  But  his  exaltation  rests 
on  his  intellectual  and  moral  powers.  That  rich  sentence, 
So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God 
created  he  him,  is  full  of  meaning  and  interest.  The  image 
of  God  !  What  is  that  ?  Who  would  dare  apply  such  lan 
guage  to  man,  if  God  had  not  done  it  ?  A  Being  of  infinite 
moral  and  intellectual  attributes,  immaterial  and  immortal, 
condescends  to  state,  without  qualification,  that  he  has  stamped 
his  own  image  upon  a  creature  of  his  hand,  and  therefore 
gives  him  dominion  over  all  other  creatures  in  the  same  world. 
If  some  of  them  show  a  spark  of  intelligence,  not  one  discov 
ers  a  single  moral  characteristic  ;  and  as  to  intellect,  if  any 
of  them  possess  it  at  all,  it  is  immeasurably  inferior  to  man's. 
If  the  idiot  and  the  long-degraded  savage  show  a  mental  heb 
etude  and  grossness  even  inferior  to  many  of  the  brutes,  the 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S '  CREATION.          203 

proper  inference  is,  not  that  the  race  are  allied  to  the  quad- 
rumana,  but  that  in  such  cases  the  development  of  mind  is 
prevented  by  natural  or  artificial  obstructions.  On  the  other 
hand,  'the  loftiest  exhibition  of  mental  and  moral  power 
which  any  of  our  race  have  exhibited  may  be  taken  as  the 
measure  of  the  intellectual  ability  of  the  whole  race  ;  because 
there  is  every  reason  to  presume  that,  when  man  is  freed 
from  the  fetters  and  clogs  that  now  obstruct  the  full  develop 
ment  of  his  powers,  the  mind  now  apparently  the  weakest 
will  manifest  latent  powers  equal  to  the  strongest.  God's 
own  image  is  instamped  on  every  soul ;  and  though  sin  and 
sorrow  may  for  a  while  mar  it,  or  cover  it  with  rubbish,  yet 
when  it  is  polished  anew  by  a  divine  hand,  it  will  shine  forth 
in  its  original  freshness  and  beauty.  In  a  higher  sphere, 
where  the  deteriorating  influences  of  sin  are  not  felt,  it  will 
be  seen  how  worthy  man  is  to  wear  the  crown  of  this  lower 
world. 

If  we  place  side  by  side  sketches  of  the  heads  of  the  dif 
ferent  races  of  men,  beginning  with  the  Caucasian,  and  pass 
ing  through  the  Mongolian,  the  Malay,  and  the  American,  to 
the  negro,  we  find  marked  and  characteristic  differences ;  and 
if  we  extend  the  comparison  to  the  cranium  of  the  orang 
outang,  we  seem  to  have  proceeded  only  a  little  farther  on 
a  descending  scale  ;  so  that,  if  we  judge  of  the  animal  by  its 
head,  we  shall  be  ready,  perhaps,  to  conclude  that  the  lowest 
type  in  the  human  series  is  only  slightly  elevated  above  the 
highest  on  the  quadrumanous^scale.  But  this  is  a  false  infer 
ence,  if  we  look  no  farther  than  the  physical  organization. 
The  most  prognathous,  thick-lipped  Hottentot  stands  far  above 
the  semi-quadrupedal  orang.  Says  one  of  our  ablest  Amer 
ican  comparative  anatomists,*  "  The  organization  of  anthro- 

*  Trofessor  Jeffries  Wyman. 


204         THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

poid  quadrumana  justifies  the  naturalist  in  placing  them  at 
the  head  of  the  brute  creation,  and  placing  them  in  a  position 
in  which  they,  of  all  the  animal  series,  shall  be  nearest  to 
man.  Any  anatomist,  however,  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
compare  the  skeletons  of  the  negro  and  orang,  cannot  fail  to 
be  struck  at  sight  with  the  wide  gap  which  separates  them. 
The  difference  between  the  cranium,  the  pelvis,  and  the  con 
formation  of  the  upper  extremities,  in  the  negro  and  Cauca 
sian,  sinks  into  insignificance  when  compared  with  the  vast 
difference  which  exists  between  the  conformation  of  the  same 
parts  in  the  negro  and  orang." 

But  mere  physical  differences  are  of  small  consequence 
compared  with  such  as  are  intellectual  and  moral.  I  shall 
not,  indeed,  take  the  ground  that  the  inferior  animals  exhibit 
no  traces  of  what  we  call  mind  in  man  —  such  as  memory, 
imagination,  volition,  and  reason.  Admit,  if  you  please,  — 
what,  in  fact,  seems  to  be  almost  beyond  question,  —  that  we 
do  see  evidence  in  brutes  of  the  possession  of  mental  faculties 
similar  to  those  in  man  ;  yet  who  has  so  low  an  opinion  of 
his  own  mental  powers  as  not  to  see  an  immense  disparity 
between  the  psychological  characteristics  of  brutes  and  of 
men  ?  The  difference  does  not  lie  merely,  or  chiefly,  in  the 
original  strength  or  weakness  of  these  faculties.  For  if 
measured  by  such  a  test,  we  might  well  hesitate  to  ascribe  a 
marked  superiority  to  man ;  since  in  his  infancy  he  is  of  all 
animals  one  of  the  most  helpless,  and  with  less  of  instinctive 
power  than  they,  and  with  a  tardy  development  of  intellect, 
he  really  often  appears  to  disadvantage  by  their  side.  But 
let  time  pass  on,  and  while  the  brute  makes  scarcely  no  prog 
ress,  you  will  see  a  surprising  expansion  and  invigoration  of 
the  powers  of  the  infant,  as  it  rises  to  the  stage  of  youth  and 
manhood.  Excepting  in  the  case  of  idiocy  or  disease,  you 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN^S    CREATION.         205 

cannot  stop,  though  you  may  retard,  the  expanding  process ; 
and  by  cultivation  you  may  wonderfully  accelerate  and  per 
fect  it.  But  all  such  labor  will  be  nearly  wasted  upon  the 
brute.  His  instincts  are  capable  of  some  improvement ;  but 
when  you  try  your  hand  upon  his  mental  powers,  you  will  see 
at  once  that  you  have  got  no  foundation  on  which  to  build. 
A  few  animals  may,  indeed,  with  great  care,  be  taught  to  do 
some  things  mechanically  ;  but  their  instruction  consists  chiefly 
in  severe  bodily  inflictions,  and  fear  and  memory  seem  to  be 
almost  the  only  powers  that  are  quickened  ;  so  that  the  feats 
which  they  perform  manifest  nothing  almost  of.  mental  acu 
men.  As  to  the  power  of  abstraction,  indeed,  there  is  no 
evidence  that  the  brutes  are  capable  of  it  in  any  degree. 

In  order  to  see  the  immense  intellectual  disparity  between 
man  and  the  brutes,  compare  the  attainments  of  the  most 
remarkable  specimens  of  the  latter  with  those  of  the  loftiest 
human  genius  in  the  full  maturity  of  his  powers.  Suppose 
you  call  on  the  chimpanze,  the  gorilla,  or  the  "  half-reasoning 
elephant,"  to  make  the  comparison  :  they  are  incapable  even 
of  understanding  what  you  mean  ;  and  in  that  fact  you  see 
their  vast  inferiority.  The  entire  field  of  what  we  call  knowl 
edge  lies  absolutely  beyond  their  reach.  You  may  subject 
them  to  the  best  discipline  of  which  they  are  capable  during 
their  whole  lives ;  and  yet  you  cannot  get  them  possessed  of 
a  single  idea,  either  literary  or  scientific. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  idiot,  and  even  the  Hottentot,  or  the 
negro  of  Central  Africa,  seem  almost  equally  incapable  of 
such  ideas,  and  of  drawing  a  comparison  between  themselves 
and  the  cultivated  savant  of  civilized  lands ;  and  yet  all  these 
are  men. 

Of  the  idiot  I  shall  speak  shortly.     But  in  respect  to  the 
Hottentot  and  the  negro,  it  is  not  true  that  they  cannot  com- 
18 


206          THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

prebend  scientific  truths.  You  have  only  to  subject  them  to 
the  culture  that  has  been  bestowed  upon  civilized  man,  espe 
cially  if  continued  through  successive  generations,  and  not 
only  shall  they  be  able  to  understand  science,  but  it  may  be 
to  rise  almost  to  the  level  of  the  Newtons,  the  La  Places,  the 
Leibnitzes,  and  the  Cuviers  of  proud  Europe.  Africaner, 
while  prowling  with  the  lion  and  the  hyena  for  his  human 
prey,  may  be  only  a  little  the  most  sagacious  brute.  For,  as 
Cicero  says,  "  What  is  the  difference  whether  a  man  take  the 
form  of  a  brute,  or,  having  the  figure  of  a  man,  show  the 
savageness  of  a  brute  ?  " 

But  when  Africaner  has  been  subdued  by  the  gospel,  and 
learns  to  aspire  after  knowledge,  he  shows  that  early  disci 
pline  was  alone  wanting  to  make  him  as  well  known  for  men 
tal  and  moral  excellence  as  he  was  for  savage  ferocity.  But 
his  former  fellow-tigers  and  hyenas  could  neither  be  thus 
tamed  nor  educated.  He  shows  himself  possessed  of  an  in 
tellectual  principle  within,  that  exalts  him  far,  far  above  them. 

I  admit  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  large  proportion  of  the 
human  family  exhibit  but  a  feeble  intellectual  development, 
and,  in  popular  language,  are  justly  represented  as  but  little 
above  the  brutes.  But  even  though  the  majority  are  thus 
degraded,  are  they  to  be  taken  as  a  measure  of  the  mental 
power  of  the  race,  or  shall  we  rather  look  upon  the  princes 
of  the  intellectual  world  as  fair  samples  of  what  the  whole 
race  might  become,  if  all  obstructions  were  taken  out  of  the 
way  ?  I  have  already  intimated  that  I  am  an  advocate  of 
the  latter  view.  For  we  do  know  that  the  most  powerful 
intellect  is  reduced  to  the  weakness  of  infancy  by  the  force 
of  bodily  disease  ;  and  that  minds,  seemingly  weak  in  early 
life,  have  become  strong  when  health  was  invigorated,  and 
peculiar  circumstances  roused  them  to  action.  It  is  also  true 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION.         207 

that  a  blow  upon  the  head,  producing  some  change  in  the 
brain,  has  been  followed  sometimes  by  an  almost  total  loss  of 
some  of  the  mental  faculties,  and  sometimes  by  their  marked 
invigoration.  We  have  cases,  also,  in  which  recovery  from 
swoons  that  were  supposed  to  be  death,  has  been  succeeded 
by  the  total  loss  for  a  time  of  all  knowledge  previously  gained, 
until,  all  of  a  sudden,  and  preceded  by  some  alteration  in 
the  brain,  the  mind  has  recovered  in  a  moment  all  that  it 
had  lost. 

From  such  facts,  the  inference  is  certainly  plausible  that 
the  intellectual  diversities  among  men  may  be  owing  to  phys 
ical  causes,  rather  than  difference  of  original  calibre.  If 
changes  of  physical  structure  or  condition  do,  in  some  cases, 
materially  clarify  and  invigorate  the  mental  powers,  the  pre 
sumption  is  certainly  fair  that,  if  all  minds  were  brought  into 
the  same  circumstances  in  this  respect,  they  would  exhibit 
equal  power ;  and  even  idiocy,  it  may  be,  would  be  trans 
formed  into  genius  of  the  highest  grade.  If  so,  then  may  we 
take  the  most  extraordinary  developments  ever  made  by  re 
nowned  scholars  as  a  measure  of  the  intellectual  dynamics 
of  the  race.  And  how  immeasurably  higher  on  the  scale 
would  such  a  standard  place  man  than  the  most  elevated 
point  reached  by  the  brute  ! 

But  man's  chief  glory  lies  in  his  moral  nature  —  that  is, 
in  his  power  of  distinguishing  right  and  wrong,  virtue  and 
vice  ;  instinctively  approving  of  the  one,  and  disapproving  of 
the  other ;  feeling  a  satisfaction  when  he  conforms  to  the  one, 
and  dissatisfaction  when  he  yields  to  the  other.  This  power 
assimilates  him  more  than  any  thing  else  to  the  Deity,  whose 
approval  of  holiness  and  hatred  of  sin  are  infinitely  strong. 

Now,  these  moral  faculties  are  entirely  wanting  in  the 
brutes.  They  may  be  taught  to  perform  certain  actions,  and 


208          THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

refrain  from  others  ;  but  there  is  not  the  shadow  of  proof 
that  they  have  any  consciousness  of  right  and  wrong.  Their 
actions  are  all  prompted  by  instinct,  or  by  the  fear  of  punish 
ment,  or  the  hope  of  reward.  There  is  no  conscience  within 
to  approve  or  to  condemn  ;  nor  have  they  any  idea  of  a 
Moral  Governor,  who  will  reward  virtue  and  punish  vice. 
This,  the  grandest  idea  of  which  created  beings  are  capable, 
is  man's  sole  prerogative  of  all  beings  in  this  lower  world, 
and  it  constitutes  his  highest  distinction. 

It  may  be  said  —  and  correctly,  too,  as  I  admit,  though 
contrary  to  long-received  opinions  —  that  there  are  degraded 
races  of  men,  who  not  only  have  no  idea  of  any  being  supe 
rior  to  themselves,  but  no  moral  sense  to  accuse  or  excuse 
their  actions  ;  so  that  not  even  murder,  or  any  other  mon 
strous  crime,  will  awaken  the  slightest  self-condemnation  ;  * 
and  hence  it  is  maintained  that  man's  boasted  moral  nature 
is  the  result  of  conventional  rules,  and  therefore  not  an  origi 
nal  implanted  power  of  divine  origin.  But  the  existence  of 
moral  feelings  is  too  nearly  universal  in  the  human  bosom, 
and  too  nearly  identical  in  character  in  all  hearts,  to  be  re 
ferred  to  fluctuating  human  opinions.  And  the  very  few 
cases  in  which  the  moral  sense  seems  to  be  wanting  are  ex 
plained  plausibly  by  admitting  that  extreme  degradation  and 
unrestrained  wickedness,  committed  from  generation  to  gen 
eration,  can  so  sear  the  moral  sensibilities  that  they  seem 
utterly  dead  for  a  time.  Nevertheless,  let  the  truth  be  poured 
in  upon  such  a  soul,  with  an  accompanying  divine  influence, 
and  moral  life  will  be  again  awakened,  whose  cords  shall 
vibrate  to  the  slightest  touch. 

But  not  so  with  the  brute.     By  no  process  can  you  awaken 

*  See  Moffat's  Southern  Africa,  pp.  89,  177,  182,  &c.,  sixth  edition. 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION.          209 

or  create  moral  sensibilities  in  his  nature.  Indeed,  the  idea 
of  exhibiting  moral  truth  to  a  brute  is  ridiculous.  Writers  of 
a  certain  school  of  material  philosophy  do,  indeed,  speak  of 
the  morale,  as  well  as  the  physique,  of  the  lower  animals. 
But  it  is  a  monstrous  perversion  of  language,  and  would  not 
be  employed  by  any  one  who  has  any  just  ideas  of  the  ex 
alted  nature  of  the  moral  faculties. 

3.  According  to  Scripture,  the  creation  of  man  was  a 
miraculous  and  unusually  important  event. 

Observe  in  what  different  terms  the  creation  of  man  is 
described  from  that  of  the  inferior  animals.  When  God 
would  introduce  the  latter,  he  said,  on  the  fifth  day,  Let  the 
waters  bring  forth  abundantly  the  moving  creature  that  hath 
life,  and  fowl  that  may  fly  in  the  open  jirmament  of  heaven. 
And  God  said,  on  the  sixth  day,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the 
living  creature  after  Ms  kind,  cattle  and  creeping  thing,  and 
least  of  the  earth  after  his  kind ;  and  it  was  so.  Here  the 
command  appears  to  be  directed  to  the  earth  and  the  waters, 
to  put  forth  a  power  for  the  production  of  these  organic 
races  ;  and  it  might  be  argued,  perhaps,  with  some  plausi 
bility,  that  this  power  was  inherent  in  the  elements,  and  not 
communicated  with  the  command.  Thus,  instead  of  a  mira 
cle,  it  might  be  only  a  development  by  natural  laws  of  the 
germ  of  organic  existence  in  elementary  matter.  But  when 
we  come  to  the  creation  of  man,  intervening  agencies  are  set 
aside,  and  the  object  seems  important  enough  to  demand  the 
direct  agency  of  Jehovah.  Nay,  he  uses  the  plural  form  of 
expression  —  the  language  of  sovereigns  when  from  the  midst 
of  counsellors  they  issue  their  mandates.  God  speaks  as  if 
in  council,  and  says,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  and  after 
our  likeness.  Then  he  is  described  as  having  put  forth  his 
power  to  execute  his  decree  :  So  God  created  man  in  his 
18* 


210          THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him.  In  the  next 
chapter,  where  the  inspired  historian  recapitulates  the  work 
of  creation,  he  uses  a  form  of  expression  no  less  dignified 
and  impressive  :  And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust 
of  the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul.  One  cannot  but  notice 
in  all  these  passages  how  differently  man's  creation  is  de 
scribed  from  that  of  the  inferior  animals.  To  produce  them, 
God  merely  directs  agencies  already  in  existence  to  do  the 
work ;  and  the  simple  fact  of  their  creation  is  stated.  But 
to  create  man,  he  comes  forth,  as  it  were,  from  his  hiding 
place,  and,  taking  in  his  hand  the  dust  of  the  ground,  he 
moulds  it  with  divine  skill,  and  then  breathes  into  it  a  portion 
of  his  own  mental  and  moral  life,  and  then  fits  up  paradise 
to  receive  this  emanation  of  his  skill  —  this  image  of  him 
self.  If  this  was  not  a  miracle,  if  it  was  not  a  stupendous 
miracle,  revelation  contains  none,  nor  can  language  describe 
one.  I  am  awed,  when  I  read  the  lofty  description  of  man's 
creation  in  Genesis.  There  is  a  fulness  and  dignity  about  it 
which  I  find  connected  with  no  other  event  in  Scripture.  It 
impresses  me  with  a  sense  of  man's  original  elevation  and 
importance  in  the  scale  of  being  ;  and  though  he  has  fallen, 
I  do  not  forget  that  his  mental  characteristics  remain  essen 
tially  unchanged,  and  that  by  the  work  of  redemption  his 
moral  powers  may  be  reinstamped  with  the  divine  image. 

No  less  distinctly  does  science,  or  rather  natural  religion 
founded  upon  science,  teach  the  miraculous  origin  of  man. 

To  speak  of  miracles  as  taught  by  natural  religion  is, 
indeed,  a  new  feature  in  theology.  But  it  is  a  neology  that 
has  a  scientific  basis,  and  a  most  favorable  bearing  upon  the 
whole  system  of  religious  truth.  For  what  is  a  miracle  ? 
What  else  but  an  event  inexplicable  by  the  ordinary  laws  of 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION.          '2 1  1 

nature,  and  which  therefore  demands  special  divine  interfer 
ence  to  bring  it  about  ?  Now,  then,  the  question  is.  Can  the 
creation  of  man  be  explained  by  the  ordinary  laws  of  na 
ture  ?  Science  shows  unequivocally  that  there  was  a  period 
when  he  did  not  exist  on  this  globe  ;  nay,  she  can  nearly  fix 
the  epoch  of  his  appearance. 

Was  he  brought  in  by  natural  law  ?  There  is,  indeed,  a 
dreamy  hypothesis  that  attempts  to  explain  the  origination  of 
organic  beings  by  the  inherent  force  of  law.  But  to  explain 
thus  the  appearance  of  a  moral  and  intellectual  being  as 
unique  and  exalted  as  man,  has  so  ridiculous  an  aspect  to 
common  sense,  that  the  boldest  scepticism,  with  perhaps  a 
few  exceptions,  dare  not  directly  advocate  it.  It  is  so  ob'vious 
that  some  new  and  special  power  must  have  been  concerned 
in  his  creation,  that  unbelief  is  baffled  and  confounded  — just 
as  it  would  be  now  if  another  being,  as  much  superior  to 
man  as  he  is  to  other  animals,  should  start  into  life  before 
our  eyes. 

But  it  is  said  that,  after  all,  man's  creation,  like  every  other 
great  event  of  the  universe,  must  have  taken  place  according 
to  law  ;  for  how  absurd  to  suppose  God  ever  to  act  without 
law  !  that  is,  without  a  settled  principle  of  action  ;  and  if  an 
event  is  conformed  to  law,  does  it  not  take  away  the  idea  of 
special  divine  power  ?  In  other  words,  is  not  a  miracle, 
according  to  the  common  understanding  of  the  term,  an  im 
possibility  ? 

I  fully  admit  that  there  is  a  law  of  miracles,  as  well  as  of 
common  events  ;  but  this  law  may  contravene,  intensify,  or 
weaken  nature's  ordinary  laws,  and  therefore  it  requires 
God's  wisdom  and  power  to  introduce  and  give  it  effect.  It 
is  an  alteration  of  the  established  course  of  things  ;  nor  does 
the  fact,  that  God  acts  according  to  fixed  rjlos,  make  such  a 


212          THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

change  any  the  less  special  and  designed  to  meet  a  particular 
exigency. 

Now,  of  all  the  events  which  science  shows  to  have  tran 
spired  on  this  globe,  none  bears  upon  it  so  distinctly  the  marks 
of  special  miraculous  power  as  man's  introduction.  The 
records  of  the  earth's  past  history,  engraven  on  its  rocky 
strata,  do  indeed  show  us  other  events,  and  even  economies 
of  life,  which  miraculous  power  can  alone  explain.  But  as 
man  is  confessedly  placed  at  the  culminating  point  of  all  ter 
restrial  economies,  and  forms,  indeed,  the  crown  of  this  lower 
world,  his  introduction  is  not  only  a  miracle,  but  the  most 
glorious  of  all  miracles  earth  has  ever  witnessed.  Nay, 
though  I  cannot  fathom  creative  power  in  any  of  its  manifes 
tations,  I  confess  that  the  mystery  of  producing  dead  matter 
out  of  nothing  does  not  seem  greater  than  to  take  that  matter 
and  mould  it  into  a  living  man,  and  then  unite  with  it  intellect 
ual  and  moral  powers,  such  as  ally  this  creature  to  its  Crea 
tor,  and  require  an  immortal  existence  for  their  development. 
It  seems  to  my  mind  to  be  the  crowning  exercise  of  infinite 
wisdom  and  infinite  power,  and  therefore  the  most  wonderful 
of  all  miracles. 

Such  is  the  parallelism  between  the  facts  of  revealed  and 
e  natural  religion,  as  to  the  creation  of  man.  It  forms  a  solid 
and  firmly  compacted  basis,  on  which  we  may  erect  some 
inferential  truths  of  no  small  importance. 

My  first  inference  from  this  discussion  is  a  presumptive 
argument  in  far  or  of  the  Mosaic  chronology. 

I  refer  to  the  chronology  of  man  and  contemporary  animals ; 
for  it  is  well  known  that  in  respect  to  the  chronology  of  the 
matter  of  the  globe,  many  regard  the  Scriptures  as  not  re 
sponsible,  because  they  do  not  give  the  date  of  its  origin,  but 
only  say  that,  In  the  beginning,  God  created  the  heavens  and 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION.         213 

the  earth.  And  in  regard  to  the  date  of  man's  creation,  com 
pared  with  the  advent  of  Christ,  as  well  as  of  many  interven 
ing  events,  particularly  the  antediluvian,  it  has  long  been 
known  that  there  is  room  for  a  diversity  of  opinion,  amount 
ing  to  some  thousands  of  years,  according  as  we  follow  the 
Hebrew,  the  Samaritan,  or  the  Septuagint  text ;  so  that  when 
I  speak  of  a  presumption  from  my  subject  in  favor  of  the 
Mosaic  chronology,  I  mean,  in  favor  of  its  general  accuracy. 
Whichever  system  of  biblical  chronology  we  follow,  the  crea 
tion  of  man  and  existing  animals  was  comparatively  recent ; 
and  science  teaches  the  same  lesson,  although  geological 
periods  cannot  be  reckoned  definitely  by  years. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  thought  that  a  coincidence  so  general, 
between  the  scientific  and  revealed  records,  is  of  small  im 
portance.  But  I  judge  otherwise.  For  undesigned  coinci 
dences  are  among  the  best  of  collateral  proofs  of  the  truth  of 
Scripture  ;  and  in  this  case,  the  coincidence  is  as  exact  as  the 
nature  of  the  case  will  admit.  Had  there  been  discrepancy 
on  this  subject,  how  eagerly  would  it  have  been  seized  upon 
to  throw  discredit  upon  biblical  chronology  !  This  is  a  point 
against  which  scepticism  aims  its  deadliest  shafts.  It  is  pleas 
ant,  therefore,  to  find  our  confidence  in  the  accuracy  of 
Scripture  history  strengthened  by  the  record  which  we  find 
instamped  upon  the  rocks. 

My  second  inference  enters  a  protest  against  those  materi 
alistic  views,  widely  prevalent  at  the  present  day,  which  sink 
men,  or  at  least  some  varieties  of  men,  almost  to  the  level  of 
the  brutes. 

It  is  not  strange,  perhaps,  that  such  views  should  be 
adopted,  when  we  look  at  some  of  the  prevailing  systems  of 
anthropology.  It  is  first  assumed  that  the  size  and  shape  of 
the  cranium  determine  the  intellectual  and  moral  character  ; 


214         THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

and  since  some  of  the  races  in  this  respect  approach  certain 
brutes,  it  is  inferred  that  in  character  they  approximate  as 
nearly  as  in  phrenological  development.  For  the  next  step 
is  to  deny,  or  at  least  to  doubt,  the  existence  of  any  thinking 
principle  in  man,  independent  of  matter,  and  of  course  the 
mental  and  moral  calibre  will  depend  upon  the  size,  delicacy 
of  organization,  and  facile  action  of  the  brain.  The  third 
step  is,  to  take  the  ground  that  the  different  races  of  men  are 
not  mere  varieties,  but  distinct  species,  with  plurality  of  ori 
gin.  The  Caucasian  is  always  placed  at  the  head  of  the  spe 
cies,  and  the  negro  at  the  foot.  According  to  the  theory,  the 
inferior  species  are  incapable  of  elevated  ideas  or  religious 
emotions.  "  Lofty  civilization,"  says  a  recent  writer  of  this 
school,  "  in  all  cases  has  been  achieved  solely  by  the  Cauca 
sian  group.  The  black  African  races,  inhabiting  the  south 
of  Egypt,  have  been  in  constant  intercourse  with  her,  as  we 
prove  from  the  monuments,  during  four  thousand  years  ;  and 
yet  they  have  not  made  a  solitary  step  towards  civilization  — 
neither  will  they,  nor  can  they,  until  their  physical  organiza 
tion  becomes  changed.  No  line  can  be  drawn  between  men 
and  animals,  on  the  ground  of  reason.  Did  space  permit,  I 
could  produce  historical  testimonies,  by  the  dozen,  to  over 
throw  the  postulate  which  claims  for  certain  inferior  types  of 
men  any  inherent  recognition  of  divine  Providence  —  an 
idea  too  exalted  for  their  cerebral  organizations,  and  which  is 
fondly  attributed  to  them  by  untravelled  or  unlearned  Cauca 
sians,  whose  kind-hearted  simplicity  has  not  realized  that 
diverse  lower  races  of  humanity  actually  exist,  uninvested  by 
the  Almighty  with  mental  faculties  adequate  to  the  percep 
tion  of  religious  sentiments  or  abstract  philosophies,  that  in 
themselves  are  exclusively  Caucasian."  * 

*  Types  of  Mankind,  pp.  461-463. 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S   <£ft#*TION.        215 

W>"-" ' 

How  diverse  are  such  views  of  the  hu  man  vfarmty, from 
those  presented  in  the  Bible  !  And  God  said,  Let.  us  'nab* 
man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness.  So  God  created 
man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him. 
He  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all 
the  face  of  the  earth;  and  Christ  commanded  his  disciples  to 
go  into  all  the  world,  and  'preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature. 
At  last,  however,  physiologists  have  found  out,  by  an  exami 
nation  of  the  crania,  that  "  diverse  lower  races  of  humanity  " 
have  never  been  invested  by  their  Creator  with  the  mental 
faculties  adequate  to  the  perception  of  religious  sentiments, 
which  belong  exclusively  to  the  Caucasian  race. 

These  degrading  views  of  the  human  family  are  also  con 
trary  to  the  lessons  of  experience.  For  two  hundred  years, 
at  least,  almost  countless  experiments  have  been  tried  by  able, 
conscientious,  and  persevering  men,  upon  every  variety  of 
our  race,  to  see  if  they  were  capable  of  intellectual  and 
moral  culture.  To  this  work,  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
devoted  missionaries  have  consecrated  their  lives ;  and  from 
every  quarter  of  the  globe  —  from  the  wigwam  of  the  Amer 
ican  Indian,  the  mud  hut  of  the  African  negro,  and  the  kraal 
of  the  Hottentot,  as  well  as  from  the  burrow  of  the  Green- 
lander,  and  the  cities  of  the  semi-civilized  Mongolian  —  the 
same  testimony  has  been  sent  back.  Not  only  are  all  these 
races  capable  of  such  culture,  but  vast  multitudes  of  the 
young  have  shown  nearly  as  much  intellectual  power  and  sus 
ceptibility  to  religious  emotions  as  the  Caucasian  race,  and 
have  been  reclaimed  from  their  savage  state,  instructed  in  the 
arts  of  civilization,  and  have  lived  the  life  and  died  the  death 
of  the  Christian.  Yet  all  this  evidence  passes  for  nothing 
with  the  anthropologists  to  whom  I  have  referred.  With 
them  a  single  degree  more  or  less  in  the  facial  angle,  a  half 


216         THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

inch  added  to,  or  subtracted  from,  the  circumference  of  the 
cranium,  or  a  shade  lighter  or  darker  in  the  color,  weighs 
more  than  the  testimony  of  a  thousand  missionaries,  whom 
they  speak  of  as  unlearned  Caucasians,  whose  "  kind-hearted 
simplicity  "  renders  them  incapable  of  judging  of  the  intel 
lectual  and  moral  ability  of  those  among  whom  they  spend 
their  days. 

But  finally,  these  degrading  views  of  man  are  contrary  to 
self-consciousness.  I  will  admit,  if  you  please,  that  in  bodily 
organization  I  am  paralleled  by  the  quadrumana.  But  I  am 
conscious  of  intellectual  and  moral  powers  within  me,  which, 
although  now  intimately  linked  to  matter,  and  perhaps  may 
be,  in  some  other  form,  forever,  are  still  distinct  from  matter, 
independent  of  it  in  nature,  and  raising  me  immeasurably 
above  all  forms  of  organization,  and  every  being  not  pos 
sessed  of  like  powers.  If,  by  my  physical  structure,  my 
animal  life  and  instincts,  I  am  allied  to  the  brutes,  by  my 
higher  faculties  I  am  assimilated  to  my  Creator ;  and  I  glory 
in  the  thought  that  I  was  made  in  his  image.  In  such  a  na 
ture  there  can  be  nothing  defective,  or  degrading,  but  sin. 
This,  I  acknowledge,  has  made  dreadful  havoc  with  my 
nobler  powers.  But  the  fair  columns  erected  by  an  infinite 
Architect  still  stand  with  their  entablatures  and  arches,  and  I 
look  with  confidence  to  the  same  divine  hand  to  clear  away 
the  rubbish  and  the  defilement,  and  to  make  the  whole  temple 
more  beautiful  and  glorious  than  even  Eden  could  boast.  For 
I  look  forward  to  an  immortal  existence,  and  to  a  state  of 
sinless  perfection  —  nay,  more,  to  the  society  of  holy  angels 
and  communion  with  the  infinite  God.  In  the  conscious  pos 
session  of  such  powers  and  aspirations,  which  ally  me  to  all 
that  is  exalted  and  noble  in  the  universe,  how  instinctively  do 
I  recoil  from  views  which  make  thought  and  conscience 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION.         217 

rncre  functions  of  the  brain,  to  perish,  of  course,  with 
organization ! 

My  third  inference  derives  from  this  subject  a  refutation 
of  the  most  plausible  arguments  for  atheism  and  pantheism, 
and  presents  a  new  argument  for  the  divine  existence. 

There  are  two  points  which  atheists  consider  their  strong 
holds  ;  the  one  is  the  eternity  of  the  world,  and  the  other  the 
eternal  succession  of  processes  and  races.  And  so  long  as 
they  could  be  met  only  by  abstract  metaphysical  reasoning, 
they  could  not  be  fairly  driven  from  these  coverts.  But  the 
fact  of  man's  creation  cannot,  by  the  utmost  ingenuity,  be 
woven  into  conformity  with  these  dreamy  hypotheses.  Had 
it  been  made  known  only  by  revelation,  atheism  would  have 
evaded  its  force  by  denying  the  authority.  But  science, 
teaching  the  same  fact,  cuts  off  this  subterfuge.  Or  did  not 
both  these  records  give  so  very  recent  a  date  to  the  human 
species,  unbelief  might  have  hidden  itself  behind  the  veil  of 
antiquity.  But  now  the  fact  is  too  firmly  established  to  be 
denied,  that  the  most  perfect  and  exalted  of  all  terrestrial 
races  was  introduced,  probably,  the  latest  of  them  all ;  and 
thus  is  demonstrative  evidence  furnished  of  a  direct  and  spe 
cial  intervention  of  wisdom  and  power  such  as  no  being  but 
God  possesses.  Suppose,  then,  you  admit  the  eternal  exist 
ence  of  matter,  and  even  the  eternal  succession  of  the  lower 
animals ;  still  you  have  in  man's  creation  as  imperious  a  ne 
cessity  for  a  Deity,  as  the  origination  of  matter,  or  any  of  its 
other  modifications,  would  demand.  And  it  must  be  a  per 
sonal  Deity,  not  a  mere  blind  force  pervading  nature,  such  as 
pantheism  admits ;  for  to  create  man,  infinite  wisdom,  as  well 
as  infinite  power,  must  be  brought  into  exercise. 

The  argument  from  the  design,  every  where  apparent  in 
nature,  for  the  divine  existence,  requires  an  admission  that 
19 


218 


the  existing  processes  and  races  had  a  beginning.  But  this 
the  atheist  denies,  as  we  have  already  seen,  and  not  without 
some  degree  of  plausibility.  Yet  in  man's  creation  we  have 
a  work  demanding  an  infinite  Deity,  accomplished  within  a 
definite  period.  It  is  not,  indeed,  the  original  creation  of  mat 
ter,  but  rather  its  re-creation,  with  the  bestowment  of  the 
higher  principles  of  life  and  intellect.  It  may  be  regarded, 
therefore,  as  a  new  argument  for  the  divine  existence,  or 
rather,  perhaps,  the  old  argument  cleared  of  every  difficulty, 
and  having  the  freshness  and  transparency  of  demonstration. 

My  fourth  inference  derives  from  the  subject  a  refutation 
of  the  wide-spread  doctrine  of  creation  ly  law,  and  of  the 
unmiraculous  development  of  the  higher  from  the  lower  forms 
of  organic  life. 

This  hypothesis,  though  old  as  Democritus,  and  finding  a 
lodgment  occasionally  in  the  brain  of  here  and  there  a  clois 
tered  sceptic,  has  never  till  our  day  assumed  a  popular  dress, 
and  ventured  forth  to  gain  the  attention  of  the  crowd,  and 
become  the  theme  of  discussion  in  the  place  of  public  resort, 
and  even  by  the  fireside  of  private  life.  La  Place  first  at 
tempted  to  show  how  suns  and  systems  might  be  formed  from 
eternal  matter  in  a  nebulous  state  without  a  Deity.  Next,  the 
French  naturalists,  improving  upon  Democritus,  described  the 
process  by  which  inorganic  matter  became  organic,  in  the 
lowest  and  simplest  degree  ;  and,  finally,  with  the  aid  of 
Anglo-Saxon  sceptics,  they  traced  the  development  of  the 
vital  particle  called  a  monad  in  its  upward  progress,  through 
higher  and  higher  tribes  of  animals,  till,  finally,  even  man 
was  evolved  from  the  quadrumana,  by  what  was  called  "  a 
tendency  to  improvement  "  and  "  the  force  of  circumstances." 
And  all  these  changes  depended,  not  upon  miraculous  inter 
vention,  but  upon  the  operation  of  laws  eternally  inherent  in 


nature  ;  so  that  the  hypothesis  may  properly  be  denominated 
creation  by  law. 

To  sustain  these  views,  appeal  has  been  made  to  almost 
every  department  of  nature,  especially  to  those  parts  over 
which,  through  difficulty  or  defect  of  investigation,  obscurity 
still  hangs.  But  though  unsustaincd  by  any  department  of 
science,  it  seems  to  me  that  its  absurdity  is  eminently  mani 
fest  from  the  creation  of  man.  The  mere  attempt  to  state 
the  process  by  which  the  orang  outang  is  converted  by  natu 
ral  law  into  the  human  species  can  hardly  fail  to  excite  the 
smile  of  common  sense.  But  if  the  views  presented  in  this 
discourse  are  true,  it  will  excite  a  sigh,  rather  than  a  smile, 
to  find  that  reasonable  and  intelligent  men  have  no  higher 
idea  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  nature  of  the  immortal  mind 
than  to  suppose  it  capable  of  derivation  by  a  natural  process 
from  the  orang  outang — nay,  from  a  vitalized,  but  scarcely 
organized  monad.  How  strange,  how  impious  even,  to  talk 
of  the  evolution  of  God's  image  from  a  quadrumanous  brute  ! 
Make  out,  if  you  please,  a  near  corporeal  relation  ;  but  who 
that  is  not  himself  brutalized  can  try  to  bridge  over  the  wide 
gulf  between  man's  higher  nature  and  the  most  sagacious 
brute  by  that  abused  and  ill -understood  phrase,  a  law  of 
nature  ? 

My  fifth  inference  not  only  removes  all  presumption  against 
Christianity  as  a  miraculous  dispensation,  but  furnishes  a 
strong  presumption  in  favor  of  the  miracles  of  revelation. 

We  have  seen  that  the  most  remarkable  miracle  of  the 
Bible,  the  creation  of  man,  is  also  a  miracle  in  the  history  of 
science,  and  the  most  striking,  too,  of  all  the  miracles  in  that 
history.  It  contains  others  —  such,  for  instance,  as  the  crea 
tion  of  the  inferior  animals.  But  I  would  fix  my  eye,  at  this 
time,  solely  on  man.  From  the  dust  of  the  ground  I  see  him 


220          THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

start  into  life  in  the  full  perfection  of  his  powers,  and  with  a 
nature  so  much  superior  to  that  of  any  other  terrestrial  crea 
ture  as  to  preclude  the  idea  of  any  connection,  save  that  they 
all  belong  to  the  same  great  system  of  organization.  Philos 
ophy  is  utterly  baffled  in  attempting  to  explain  by  any  known 
laws  and  processes  of  nature  the  derivation  of  such  a  being 
from  any  preexisting  races.  Strive  as  she  does  to  avoid  it, 
she  is  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  special  divine  wisdom  and 
power  must  be  called  in  to  explain  such  a  phenomenon.  So 
long  as  revelation  alone  asserted  the  recent  origin  of  man, 
scepticism  could  imagine  his  existence  in  an  endless  series. 
But  now  that  the  earth  itself  has  opened  its  mouth  to  confirm 
the  testimony  of  revelation  on  this  point,  miraculous  power 
alone  can  solve  the  great  problem  of  his  existence. 

And  what  a  host  of  sceptical  doubts  and  surmises,  which 
have  long  been  fastened  as  vipers  to  the  hand  of  Christianity, 
does  that  one  great  miracle  of  nature  paralyze !  so  that,  in 
stead  of  seeing  her  fall  down  dead,  as  an  unbelieving  world 
have  long  expected  she  would,  they  now  behold  her  shaking 
them  off,  and  feeling  no  harm.  The  moment  you  bring  the 
famous  cavil  of  Hume  respecting  testimony,  or  the  mystic 
hypothesis  of  Strauss,  or  the  shadowy  dreams  of  the  anti- 
supernaturalists,  or  the  fancied  inspiration  of  the  infidel  spir 
itualists,  into  the  presence  of  this  one  great  fact  of  man's 
miraculous  creation,  they  fall  flat  upon  their  faces,  like  Dagon 
before  the  ark  of  God.  A  miracle  once  admitted  in  the  his 
tory  of  nature,  and  all  presumptions  against  analogous  mira 
cles  in  Christianity  vanish  like  fog  before  the  sun.  Nay, 
more,  we  obtain  a  positive  presumption  in  favor  of  all  which 
revelation  describes.  The  ponderous  metaphysical  and  ra 
tionalistic  tomes  that  have  been  written  to  disprove  the  mirac 
ulous  character  of  Christianity,  and  their  equally  voluminous 


THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN^S    CREATION.          221 

replies,  now  lose  their  potency,  and  we  may  suffer  them  to 
pass  into  the  limbo  of  forgetfulness. 

If  these  things  are  so,  then  may  I  add,  as  another  infer 
ence,  that  we  gain  from  the  whole  subject  a  presumptive  proof 
of  the  truth  of  revelation. 

If  science  had  been  discrepant  to  revelation  in  relation  to 
the  creation  and  character  of  man  as  much  as  it  is  now  in 
agreement,  it  surely  would  have  been  seized  upon  as  cast 
ing  suspicion  upon  Christianity.  Why,  then,  should  not  these 
remarkable  coincidences  strengthen  our  conviction  of  its 
truth  ?  When  the  writer  of  Genesis  placed  man's  creation 
on  the  last  of  the  demiurgic  days,  who  told  him  that  when  the 
earth's  rocky  archives  should  be  deciphered  man's  registry 
would  be  found  only  near  the  close  of  the  long  roll  ?  When 
he  represented  the  work  as  eminently  miraculous,  who  told 
him  that  the  science  of  the  nineteenth  century  would  teach 
the  same  ?  And  when  he  placed  man  at  the  head  of  crea 
tion  on  earth,  who  told  him  that  psychology  and  ethics  would 
make  the  same  classification  ?  Who  told  him  ?  How  nat 
ural  the  conclusion  that  it  was  the  same  infinite  Instructor 
whose  hand  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  filled  it  with 
life  and  beauty,  and  who  therefore  could  not  be  mistaken  in 
its  history  ! 

In  view  of  this  whole  discussion,  may  I  not  add,  in  conclu 
sion,  that  it  furnishes  an  instructive  example  of  the  use  that 
may  be  made  of  natural  religion  by  the  minister  of  the 
gospel  ? 

Imperfectly  as  the  subject  has  been  presented,  may  I  not 
presume  that  my  hearers  feel  that  the  teachings  of  science, 
in  relation  to  man's  crealion  and  character,  do  lend  a  strong 
confirmation  of  the  biblical  account,  and  that  this  united  tes 
timony  throws  much  light  upon  several  important  principles 
19* 


222         THE    RELIGIOUS    BEARINGS    OF    MAN'S    CREATION. 

in  the  theory  of  religion  ?  I  have  touched,  however,  upon 
only  a  single  point,  where  natural  and  revealed  theology 
meet ;  and  doubtless  other  points,  equally  prolific  -of  impor 
tant  instruction,  lie  along  the  line  of  junction,  waiting  only 
careful  investigation.  And  is  not  this  sort  of  research  what 
the  spirit  of  the  present  age  demands  ?  Infidelity  has  long 
since  claimed  the  testimony  of  science  as  on  her  side ;  and  I 
fear  that  too  often  the  expounders  of  revealed  theology  have 
half  admitted  the  claim,  and  felt  that  the  less  they  had  to  do 
with  natural  religion  the  better.  But  this  jealousy  of  the 
religious  bearings  of  science  is  entirely  unfounded ;  and  if 
ever  she  has  seemed  to  speak  against  revealed  truth,  it  was 
ventriloquism,  and  not  her  natural  language.  Let  the  preachers 
of  the  gospel  diligently  explore  the  fields  of  natural  religion, 
and  many  a  rich  gem  of  truth  shall  reward  their  search, 
which,  polished  by  the  hand  of  learned  piety,  shall  sparkle 
even  in  the  fair  crown  of  Christianity.  To  preach  Christ 
crucified  should  be,  indeed,  their  chief  aim  and  effort.  But  if 
they  would  be  workmen  that  need  not  be  ashamed,  they  should 
be  able  to  draw  the  illustration  and  defence  of  the  truth  from 
the  whole  field  of  nature,  as  well  as  of  revelation.  And 
whether  they  seek  responses  at  the  shrine  of  God's  word,  or 
his  works,  or  his  providence,  they  will  find  unity,  harmony, 
and  mutual  corroboration.  The  rays  of  truth  coming  through 
these  different  media  may,  indeed,  be  of  different  colors  ;  but 
they  will  be  found  sweetly  blending  into  one  unbroken  bow 
of  light,  painted  on  the  retiring  cloud  of  error  and  sin,  and 
presaging  the  glories  of  earth's  latter  day. 


THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 


The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took,  and  hid 
hi  three  measures  of  meal,  till  the  whole  was  leavened. 

Matthew  xiii.  33. 

IT  is  not  often  that  the  discoveries  of  modern  science  eluci 
date  and  make  more  impressive  the  language  of  Scripture. 
The  text,  however,  is  one  of  these  rare  instances.  It  de 
scribes,  indeed,  a  very  familiar  process,  —  that  of  bread 
making, —  which,  as  a  practical  matter,  has  been  known  from 
very  early  times.  But  the  principles  on  which  some  parts  of 
the  operation  depend  are  even  yet  among  the  most  recondite 
in  chemical  science.  Something  is  known  of  them,  however  ; 
and  although  the  person  who  is  acquainted  only  with  the  pro 
cess  of  leavening  bread  must  be  struck  with  the  peculiar  force 
and  appropriateness  of  this  illustration,  yet  the  man  ac 
quainted  with  its  rationale  cannot  but  realize  it  more  deeply. 
I  shall  feel  justified,  therefore,  in  spending  a  few  moments  in 
scientific  details,  which  would  be  appropriate  to  the  chemical 
lecture  room  ;  nay,  I  should  feel  condemned  if  I  did  not  take 
this  course,  because  I  am  confident  that  I  can  thus  make  the 
beauty  and  force  of  this  passage  more  obvious  and  impressive. 
And  in  doing  this,  and  introducing  a  few  technical  phrases,  I 
hope  my  hearers  will  not  charge  me  with  pedantry,  till  they 
have  heard  me  through.  Gladly  would  I  avoid  these  scien- 

(223) 


224       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

tine  details,  could  I  in  any  other  way  bring  out  the  full 
strength  and  appropriateness  of  the  text. 

The  phrase  kingdom  of  heaven,  in  this  passage,  demands  a 
passing  exegetical  notice.  The  radical  idea  contained  in  it,  as 
well  as  in  the  cognate  expression  kingdom  of  God,  is  that  of 
dominion  or  government.  Even  when  it  means  heaven  itself, 
as  it  sometimes  does,  this  original  idea  clings  to  it ;  for  in 
heaven,  the  most  prominent  manifestation  of  the  Deity  will 
be  through  his  government.  In  the  New  Testament,  how 
ever,  this  phrase  often  designates  the  reign  of  the  gospel  dis 
pensation  ;  and  hence  it  very  naturally  is  sometimes  put  for 
the  principles  of  the  gospel.  Such  seems  to  be  its  precise 
meaning  in  the  text.  Christ  evidently  meant  to  say,  that  the 
truths  of  the  gospel,  when  brought  into  contact  with  society, 
operate  like  the  leaven  of  the  bread  maker,  when  mingled 
with  the  dough. 

And  how,  precisely,  does  this  operate  ?  Chemistry,  to 
some  extent,  informs  us.  It  is  an  example  of  those  changes 
in  bodies,  which,  for  the  want  of  a  better  name,  is  called 
Catalysis.  This  term  embraces  a  great  variety  of  decompo 
sitions  and  recompositions,  which  are  not  explained  by  the 
common  principles  of  analysis  and  synthesis.  In  catalysis, 
the  mere  presence  of  a  certain  body  among  the  particles  of 
another  produces  the  most  extensive  changes  among  those 
particles  ;  and  yet  the  body  thus  operating  is  itself  unaffected. 
Thus  a  stream  of  hydrogen  poured  upon  a  piece  of  platinum 
will  take  fire  —  that  is,  unite  with  the  oxygen  of  the  atmos 
phere  through  the  influence  of  the  platinum  ;  and  yet  that 
metal  will  remain  unaltered. 

In  cases  of  catalysis,  more  analogous  to  the  example  re 
ferred  to  in  the  text,  the  substance  itself,  which  is  the  agent 
of  the  change,  is  in  a  decomposing  condition.  This  is  the 


THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.        225 

case  with  leaven,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  ferment  or 
yeast.  One  sees,  from  the  commotion  among  its  particles, 
that  a  change  is  going  on  in  its  internal  condition,  and  that 
new  compounds  are  forming  out  of  its  elements.  Introduced 
in  that  state  into  the  meal,  it  communicates  a  change  to  the 
whole  mass,  analogous  to  that  which  it  is  itself  experien 
cing.  This  is  called  fermentation.  In  bread,  it  is  not  al 
lowed  to  proceed  very  far,  but  is  arrested  by  the  heat  of 
the  oven. 

It  is  found  that  the  remarkable  power  of  leaven  to  change 
the  character  of  compounds  depends  on  a  peculiar  principle 
which  it  contains,  called  Diastase.  This  substance  is  so 
powerful  in  its  action,  that  one  part  of  it,  mixed  with  two 
thousand  parts  of  starch,  will  change  the  whole  into  sugar  in 
a  few  hours. 

It  had  long  been  a  great  mystery  how  so  small  a  quantity 
of  one  substance  should  be  able  to  effect  such  a  change  upon 
so  large  a  mass  of  another.  But  the  discovery  that  leaven  in 
its  active  state  contains  a  fungous  plant,  which  multiplies  with 
prodigious  rapidity,  and  is  sustained  by  the  matter  into  which 
the  leaven  is  introduced,  furnishes  an  explanation.  This 
yeast  plant,  as  it  is  called,  consists  of  myriads  of  cells, 
scarcely  more  than  one  three  thousandth  of  an  inch  in  diam 
eter  ;  and  it  has  the  power  of  converting  sugar  into  alcohol 
and  carbonic  acid,  and  finally  into  vinegar.  All  the  steps  of 
the  process  by  which  the  starch  of  flour  is  changed  into  these 
various  products  may  not  be  fully  understood ;  but  it  seems 
settled  that  the  starch  affords  the  nourishment  to  the  plant,  at 
least  in  all  ordinary  cases  of  fermentation. 

The  history  of  catalytic  changes,  then,  furnishes  us  with 
two  principles  of  importance  in  elucidating  the  text.  The 
first  is,  that  it  needs  but  a  very  small  quantity  of  leaven  to 


226       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

produce  a  complete  change  in  a  very  large  amount  of  farina 
ceous  matter.  The  second  is,  that  it  is  only  necessary  to 
start  the  process  of  change  in  one  or  a  few  spots  in  the  mass, 
where  the  particles  of  the  leaven  happen  to  be,  in  order  to 
have  it  permeate  the  entire  heap.  It  is  not  necessary  that  a 
particle  of  the  leaven  should  actually  come  in  contact  with 
every  particle  of  the  mass.  It  need  only  commence  a  pro 
cess  in  one  spot,  which  will  spread  of  itself  through  the 
whole,  or  at  least  to  a  great  extent. 

To  return  now  to  my  text,  —  such  a  power  does  Christ 
declare  the  gospel  to  possess.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like 
unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took,  and  hid  in  three  measures 
of  meal,  till  the  whole  was  leavened.  Hence  I  take  for  my 
subject  on  this  occasion,  The  Catalytic  Power  of  the  Gospel. 
I  wish  to  show  that  wherever  that  is  cast  into  the  dead  and 
inert  mass  of  human  society,  it  shows  a  quickening,  expand 
ing,  and  multiplying  power  possessed  by  no  other  human  in 
stitution. 

In  order  to  avoid  misapprehension,  let  me  premise  one  or 
two  remarks.  Because  I  shall  attempt  to  show  that  gospel 
truth  has  a  mighty  power  over  the  human  heart,  let  no  one 
imagine  me  a  disbeliever  in  the  necessity  of  a  special  divine 
influence  to  give  that  truth  success.  In  that  doctrine  most 
cordially  do  I  acquiesce  ;  and  when  I  speak  of  a  peculiar  effi 
cacy  of  the  truth,  I  assume  that  the  conversion  of  men  is  not 
by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
My  only  object  is  to  show  that  the  truth,  in  itself,  possesses  a 
peculiar  adaptedness  to  win  its  way  and  transform  society. 
And  surely  it  will  encourage  our  efforts,  as  well  as  make 
us  feel  more  deeply  our  obligations,  to  learn  what  an  ad 
mirable  instrument  God  has  put  into  our  hands  with  which 
to  labor. 


THE    CATALYTIC    POWER   OF    THE    GOSPEL.  227 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  evidence  of  the  catalytic  power  of 
the  gospel. 

In  the  first  place,  such  a  power  is  derived  from  the  adapted- 
ness  of  the  gospel  to  human  wants. 

How  well  adapted  it  is  to  promote  the  temporal  welfare  and 
happiness  of  man,  may  be  seen  by  comparing  the  condition 
of  society  in  Christian  lands  with  that  of  heathen  and  Mo 
hammedan  countries.  So  striking  is  the  contrast,  that  truly 
and  literally  we  may  say  of  Christianity,  it  has  the  promise 
of  the  life  that  now  is,  as  well  as  of  that  which  is  to  come. 
But  it  is  mainly  of  man's  spiritual  wants  that  I  speak  at  this 
time.  For  though  felt  more  or  less  by  all,  and  by  many  with 
great  intensity,  they  are  met  and  satisfied  nowhere  save  in 
the  gospel.  Yet  how  purblind  men  are  to  this  panacea  ! 
They  search  for  remedies  every  where  else.  They  run  the 
whole  round  of  sensual  gratification  in  the  vain  expectation 
of  relief;  but  they  find  only  a  bitter  aggravation  of  their  suf 
ferings.  They  toil  for  wealth,  for  honor,  for  power,  and  per 
haps  are  eminently  successful.  But  the  void  in  their  hearts  is 
only  made  larger  and  more  painful.  They  resort  to  social 
enjoyments,  or  to  learning,  or  to  splendid  worldly  enterprises; 
but  all  in  vain  ;  the  terrible  craving  of  their  nature  continues, 
and,  like  the  cast-out  unclean  spirit,  they  go  through  dry 
places,  seeking  rest,  yet  finding  none.  They  resort  finally  to 
deeds  of  charity,  to  self-mortifications,  and  to  the  rites  of  a 
religion  of  forms ;  and  here  they  fancy  they  must  find  peace. 
But  if  they  do,  it  is  only  a  false  and  a  transient  peace  —  the 
peace  of  self-delusion,  not  the  peace  of  God.  And  when 
some  trying  exigency  of  life  overtakes  them,  the  visor  drops 
from  their  eyes,  and  the  cheated  soul  within  cries  out  in  an 
guish  for  something  to  lean  upon  in  the  hour  of  suffering  and 
of  death. 


228       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

Such  are  the  vain  phantoms  which  most  men  pursue 
through  all  their  days,  urged  on  by  the  deep,  restless,  unsatis 
fied  wants  of  their  nature.  Nor  does  one  in  a  thousand  fancy 
that  he  is  walking  in  a  vain  show,  until  God's  Spirit  opens  his 
eyes  to  see  the  plague  of  his  own  heart.  He  is  amazed  and 
overwhelmed  by  the  view.  Such  deep  and  dreadful  deprav 
ity,  pervading  his  whole  nature,  he  never  once  suspected. 
He  can  live  with  such  a  heart  no  longer.  Ah,  he  sees  now 
what  he  wants,  and,  prostrate  in  the  dust,  he  cries  out,  Create 
in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within 
me.  His  prayer  prevails.  He  rises  a  new  creature  in  Christ 
Jesus.  The  aching  void  in  his  heart  is  filled  —  filled  with 
divine  love  and  divine  peace.  He  is  saved  by  the  washing  of 
regeneration  and  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  has 
found,  at  last,  the  grand  panacea  which  nature  could  never 

discover. 

"  This  remedy  did  wisdom  find 
To  heal  diseases  of  the  mind, 
The  sovereign  balm,  whose  virtues  can 
Restore  the  ruined  creature,  man." 

During  the  preparatory  process  that  goes  before  regenera 
tion,  as  well  as  in  the  act,  the  peculiar  adaptedness  of  an 
other  great  doctrine  of  the  gospel  to  human  wants  is  made 
most  manifest.  The  man  is  deeply  conscious  of  having 
broken  the  law  of  God ;  and  when  he  is  made  to  feel  how 
reasonable  that  law  is,  and  how  holy,  he  does  not  see  how  he 
can  be  pardoned.  The  law  only  condemns  him,  but  discloses 
not  one  gleam  of  hope.  He  looks  around  solicitously  for 
some  way  of  escape.  He  inquires  whether  he  can  himself 
make  any  offerings  to  God  that  will  be  a  ground  of  pardon. 
Especially  may  not  the  sacrifice  of  animal  life  avail  ?  To  such 
sacrifices  have  men  in  all  ages  and  countries  resorted,  either 


THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.       229 

by  the  promptings  of  instinct  or  revelation.  And  it  shows,  at 
least,  how  general  is  the  conviction  of  men,  that  sin  cannot 
be  pardoned  without  some  expiation  made  by  a  substitute. 
But  a  voice  from  the  Scriptures  replies,  It  is  not  possible  that 
the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats  should  take  away  sin.  The 
sinner  sinks  down  in  despair  at  this  announcement.  How 
well  prepared,  then,  to  receive  another,  issuing  from  the  same 
inspired  record !  —  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  us 
from  all  sin.  Christ  being  come,  a  high  priest  of  good 
things  to  come,  not  by  the  blood  of  goats  and  calves,  but  by 
his  own  blood,  he  entered  in  once  into  the  holy  place,  having 
obtained  eternal  redemption  for  us.  The  great  centra-1  truth 
of  a  vicarious  atonement  gradually  opens  upon  his  agitated 
mind.  At  first,  he  sees  it  only  dimly  and  doubtingly.  But, 
ere  long,  his  heart  perceives  that  here  is  the  divine  remedy 
for  its  otherwise  hopeless  case.  Here,  mercy  and  truth  meet 
together  ;  righteousness  and  peace  embrace  each  other.  Thus 
Go d  can  be  just,  while  he  justifies  the  believer.  Faith  can 
doubt  no  longer.  It  rushes  to  the  cross,  and  pardon,  peace, 
and  holy  joy  succeed  to  anguish  and  despair.  The  most 
pressing  want  man  ever  experiences  —  the  desire  of  for 
giveness  —  is  thus  fully  met ;  and  ever  after,  the  pardoned 
sinner,  addressing  his  Saviour,  exclaims, — 

"E'er  since  by  faith  I  saw  the  stream 

Thy  flowing  wounds  supply, 
Redeeming  love  has  been  my  theme, 
And  shall  be  till  I  die. 

"  Then  in  a  nobler,  sweeter  song, 

I'll  sing  thy  power  to  save, 
When  this  poor  lisping,  stammering  tongue 
Lies  silent  in  the  grave." 

20 


230       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

The  character  of  the  Being  who  made  the  atonement  is 
another  doctrinal  point  most  wisely  adapted  to  the  wants  of 
man.  Whatever  may  be  said  as  to  those  engaged  in  intel 
lectual  pursuits,  and  accustomed  to  abstractions,  the  great 
body  of  men  have  ever  associated  some  material  or  human 
characteristic  in  their  idea  of  God.  And  the  Old  Testament, 
out  of  regard  to  this  want  of  human  nature,  has  made  most 
of  its  representations  of  the  Deity  quite  anthropomorphous. 
But  it  is  in  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ  that  this  want  is 
most  fully  met.  In  that  character,  the  divine  and  the  human 
are  so  beautifully  blended  as  to  invite  confidence  without  de 
stroying  veneration.  Had  it  been  said  only  that  the  Word 
was  with  God.  and  was  God,  man  would  feel  as  if  there  were 
an  infinite  gulf  between  him  and  his  Saviour.  But  when  it  is 
added,  that  the  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us, 
the  idea  of  a  common  nature  draws  us  to  him,  and  especially 
when  he  calls  us  his  brethren,  and  declares  that  he  was 
tempted  in  all  points  as  we  are,  for  the  very  purpose  of  af 
fording  succor  to  them  that  are  tempted,  and  to  stand  as  our 
Daysman,  our  Advocate  and  Intercessor,  our  hearts  can  no 
longer  resist  the  appeal,  and  we  approach  the  throne  of 
grace  boldly,  because  we  know  that  we  have  a  sympathizing 
Friend  to  plead  our  cause.  And  yet  he  is  an  almighty  Friend  ; 
and  what  more  can  we  ask  ?  No  wonder  that  the  heart 
cleaves  to  such  a  Saviour  with  a  supreme  and  undying  love. 

"  Clothed  with  our  nature  still,  he  knows 

The  weakness  of  our  frame, 
And  how  to  shield  us  from  the  foes 
"Whom  he  himself  o'ercame. 

"  Nor  time,  nor  distance  e'er  shall  quench 

The  fervor  of  his  love  ; 
For  us  he  died  in  kindness  here, 
For  us  he  lives  above." 


THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.      231 

It  is  hardly  strange  that  to  the  acutest  minds,  unenlightened 
by  revelation,  this  world  should  seem  to  he  a  hopeless  enig 
ma  ;  or  that  it  should  be  looked  upon  as  a  state  of  retribution, 
and  that  the  half  Christian  Manichee  should  imagine  two  su 
preme  principles,  one  of  good  and  the  other  of  evil,  holding 
with  each  other  an  everlasting  war.  But  there  are  two  doc 
trines  of  revelation  that  solve  the  dark  riddle,  and  show  to 
the  eye  of  faith  the  full-orbed  glories  of  the  Divine  Benevo 
lence  behind  the  thickest  clouds.  One  of  these  doctrines  is, 
that  the  world  is  in  a  fallen  condition,  and  because  sin  has 
entered  it,  suffering  has  followed  ;  so  that,  in  fact,  the  whole 
creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  together  in  pain.  The 
other  is,  that  God's  providence  sits  watchfully  above  the 
whole  scene,  and  so  controls  every  event,  that  the  final  result 
shall  be  happiness  and  glory.  It  is  wonderful  how  these 
truths  resolve  the  most  agitating  doubts,  and  anchor  the  soul 
to  a  rock  amid  the  fiercest  tempests  of  life.  Faith  does  not 
fear  but  that  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and  benevolence  will 
bring  order  out  of  confusion,  peace  out  of  discord,  holiness 
out  of  pollution,  and  everlasting  happiness  out  of  temporary 
misery.  She  can  see  how  wisely  adapted  even  the  evils  of 
life  are  to  the  moral  discipline  essential  to  a  fallen  being. 
And  when  the  tempests  howl  around,  and  the  billows  come 
pouring  over  her,  it  is  enough  for  her  to  know  that  all  things 
work  together  for  good,  to  them  that  love  God.  She  has 
reached  that  happiest  condition  of  human  existence,  unre 
served  submission  to  the  will  of  God. 

Springing  from  such  a  system  of  doctrines,  cordially  em 
braced,  there  are  hopes  and  consolations  such  as  nothing  else 
can  give.  All  other  hopes  and  consolations  fail  to  satisfy  ; 
but  these  leave  nothing  to  be  desired.  The  man  does  not 
cease  to  be  interested  in  this  world,  but  he  is  more  interested 


232       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

in  another.  The  consciousness  that  his  eternal  future  is  safe 
makes  every  blessing  the  sweeter  which  he  receives  on  his 
way  thither ;  and  it  also  lightens  every  labor,  and  neutralizes 
every  trial.  So  near  to  immortal  and  unalloyed  happiness, 
of  how  little  consequence  to  him  are  the  short-lived  incon 
veniences  he  meets  in  his  brief  sojourn  below,  especially 
when  he  knows  how  necessary  his  trials  and  labors  are  to 
prepare  him  for  eternal  joy!  O,  if  such  a  man  has  not 
within  him  the  elements  of  happiness,  they  cannot  be  found 
on  earth.  Daily  the  manna  falls  from  heaven  around  him ; 
and  even  in  the  thirsty  desert,  he  can  smite  the  rock,  and  the 
cool  and  refreshing  waters  will  gush  out.  And  he  knows 
that,  when  he  comes  to  the  banks  of  Jordan,  the  waters, 
touched  by  the  wand  of  faith,  will  divide  for  his  passage. 

Such  is  the  wonderful  adaptation  of  the  gospel  system  to 
human  wants.  How  could  it  do  more  to  fill  and  satisfy  them  ? 
Now,  my  argument  is,  that  whenever  men  are  made  conscious 
of  their  spiritual  wants,  and  such  a  gospel  is  made  known  to 
them,  it  will  be  eagerly  embraced.  And  if  embraced  by  a 
few,  they  cannot  but  make  it  known  to  others ;  and  thus,  if 
no  untoward  influences  prevent,  will  the  whole  mass  at  length 
be  leavened.  It  does,  indeed,  meet  with  a  powerful  obstruc 
tion  in  human  depravity ;  and  were  it  unadapted  to  the  neces 
sities  of  man,  it  could  make  no  progress ;  but  now  it  has  a 
catalytic  power,  which  enables  it  to  find  its  way  through  the 
sluggish  mass. 

In  the  second  place,  man's  conscience  testifies  to  the  truth 
of  the  gospel  system,  and  thus  prepares  the  way  for  its  ad 
mission  to  the  heart. 

Of  all  the  powers  of  the  human  soul,  conscience  has  suf 
fered  least  from  the  blasting  influence  of  the  apostasy  of  the 
race.  The  corrupt  heart  is  able  to  make  every  other  faculty 


THE  CATALYTIC  TOWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.       233 

its  pander  and  slave;  but  conscience  always  stands  erect  and 
unsubdued,  ready  to  lift  her  voice  in  defence  of  the  right,  and 
to  rebuke  the  wrong.  Her  mouth  may,  indeed,  for  a  time, 
be  forcibly  closed,  and  her  sensibilities  blunted,  by  the  hot, 
searing  iron  of  iniquity ;  but  her  internal  vitality  remains 
unaffected  ;  and  when,  at  length,  her  liberty  and  vigor  are 
restored,  her  retributions  will  be  terrible. 

Now,  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  unperverted  conscience 
is  a  stern  advocate  for  evangelical  religion.  Tell  an  uncon 
verted  man  that  his  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things  and 
desperately  wicked,  and  his  pride  and  self-sufficiency  will 
resent  the  charge  ;  but  his  conscience  knows  it  to  be  true. 
Tell  him  that  with  such  a  heart  he  could  not  be  happy  in 
heaven,  and  that  therefore  he  must  be  created  anew  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and  his  corrupt  inclinations  will  muster  a  stout  defiance 
against  the  mortifying  truth  ;  yet  the  faithful  inward  monitor 
often  compels  him  to  acknowledge  its  reality.  Hence  you  will 
often  see  the  strange  anomaly  of  a  man  confessing  his  utterly 
lost  condition  by  nature,  and  his  entire  unfitness  for  heaven 
without  a  new  heart,  and  yet  so  bolstered  up  by  pride  and 
self-sufficiency,  that  he  feels  little  anxiety,  and  makes  no 
efficient  efforts  to  change  his  condition. 

Again,  in  spite  of  all  the  struggles  of  perverted  reason, 
conscience  often  compels  men  to  acknowledge  the  justice  of 
the  penalty  annexed  to  sin.  Sophistry  may  enable  them  to 
make  out  a  very  clear  demonstration  of  the  inconsistency 
between  divine  benevolence  and  eternal  punishment.  But 
conscience  compels  them  to  acknowledge  that  they  deserve 
it.  They  know  that,  with  such  wicked  hearts,  they  could 
never  experience  any  thing  else  but  punishment ;  and  they 
are  conscious  of  having  done  nothing  to  lay  God  under  obli 
gation  to  give  them  a  better  heart ;  so  that,  without  his 


234       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

interposition,  eternal  misery  follows  as  a  natural  conse 
quence. 

But  though  thus  dependent  upon  God's  grace,  conscience 
will  not  release  them  from  their  obligations  to  love  and  serve 
him  ;  for  that  faithful  and  keen-eyed  observer  testifies  that 
their  inability  arises  from  a  perversion  of  the  powers  which 
God  has  given  them,  and  not  from  any  natural  defect ;  and 
therefore  they  are  as  much  bound  to  love  and  obey  their 
Father  in  heaven  as  a  perverse  child  is  to  exercise  filial  affec 
tion,  and  do  service  to  his  earthly  father. 

In  this  dilemma,  how  strenuous  an  advocate  for  the  doc 
trine  of  special  grace  does  conscience  become !  Instead  of 
pleading  the  sinner's  apology  on  the  ground  of  inability,  and 
striving  to  release  him  from  obligation,  she  charges  him  with 
having  crippled  himself,  and  therefore  as  lying  under  the  full 
weight  of  responsibility  to  the  divine  law.  Yet  how  certain 
to  perish,  if  the  special  power  of  God  do  not  interpose  ! 

In  the  human  conscience,  then,  we  have  a  powerful  instru 
mentality  for  the  diffusion  of  the  gospel.  Once  let  the  leaven 
of  its  great  principles  be  brought  into  close  contact  with  that 
conscience,  and,  in  spite  of  the  hostile  influence  of  pride, 
selfishness,  and  passion,  it  will  rouse  and  transform  the  torpid 
soul,  and  make  it  henceforth  alive  to  duty  and  to  God.  That 
soul  will,  in  fact,  become  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus,  old 
things  having  passed  away,  and  all  things  become  new.  But 
such  a  perfect  network  of  sympathies  is  human  society,  that 
you  cannot  change  the  feelings  and  character  of  one  in 
dividual,  and  not  send  a  like  influence  into  the  hearts  of 
those  around  him.  Let  one  man's  conscience  be  roused  to 
do  its  office,  and  his  neighbor's  conscience  cannot  be  wholly 
quiet.  So  numerous  are  the  points  of  contact  between  men, 
that  no  one  can  remain  long  wholly  ignorant  of  a  moral 


THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.       235 

change  in  his  neighbor,  nor  unaffected  by  it  when  known. 
Thus  through  the  force  of  conscience  a  self-propagating 
power  is  imparted  to  religious  reformations.  Once  start  the 
process  in  a  particular  spot,  and  conscience  will  become  the 
catalytic  agency  to  transmit  it  from  individual  to  individual, 
we  cannot  tell  how  widely. 

In  the  third  place,  the  history  of  Christianity  shows  it  to 
be  jjossessed  of  an  extraordinary  catalytic  power. 

Recall  to  mind  the  circumstances  under  which  the  gospel 
was  first  introduced.  Its  Author,  a  poor,  persecuted  wan 
derer,  chose  twelve  illiterate  fishermen  for  his  council,  his 
heralds,  his  body  guard,  and  his  successors  in  propagating 
his  system  of  truth  among  men.  The  whole  world1,  too, 
stood  armed  to  the  teeth  to  resist  its  introduction.  All  its 
prejudices,  its  social,  political,  religious,  and  even  its  military 
power,  was  ready  to  be  arrayed  against  the  gospel ;  and,  in 
fact,  all  these  forces  were  employed  to  arrest  its  progress, 
and  to  root  it  out  of  the  world.  Ten  times  within  three  hun 
dred  years  did  the  mighty  Emperors  of  Rome  assail  Chris 
tianity  with  fire  and  sword.  And  they  felt  sure  of  a  triumph  ; 
for  how  could  a  few  feeble,  contemptible  fanatics,  without 
wealth,  power,  or  influence,  resist  an  array  that  had  conquered 
the  world  ?  But  how  little  did  these  worldly-wise  rulers  know 
of  the  inherent  vitality,  the  self-sustaining  and  self-propagat 
ing  power  of  the  gospel  !  So  that,  in  fact,  while  they  sup 
posed  they  were  giving  the  finishing  blow  to  the  system,  it 
was  silently  and  irresistibly  working  its  way  into  the  hearts 
and  affections  of  all  classes  of  the  community,  till  at  length, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  it  became  the  estab 
lished  religion  of  the  empire. 

Perhaps  you  will  say  this  was  the  effect  of  the  miraculous 
agency  that  was  manifested  in  the  church  in  apostolic  times. 


236       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

This  might  have  had  some  influence  in  the  first  introduction 
of  Christianity;  yet  far  less,  even  then,  I  apprehend,  than  is 
generally  supposed;  for  it  is  usually  quite  easy  to  get  rid  of 
the  influence  of  a  miracle  by  imputing  it  to  imposture,  jug 
glery,  and  delusion,  as  we  know  was  done  in  those  days. 
But  it  is  not  settled  whether  the  power  of  working  miracles 
was  possessed  by  any  after  the  days  of  the  apostles  ;  cer 
tainly  that  power  was  withdrawn  a  century  or  two  before  the 
days  of  Constantine.  Nor  have  we  evidence  that  there  was 
any  thing  peculiar  in  the  divine  influence  which  was  exerted 
upon  the  hearts  of  men  in  primitive  times.  It  seems  to  have 
operated  then,  as  now,  according  to  the  established  laws  of 
mind,  and  in  proportion  to  the  means  employed.  Further 
more,  we  have  the  testimony  of  the  Bible  to  the  position,  that 
men  are  no  more  apt  to  be  convinced  by  miracles  than  by 
the  ordinary  truths  of  the  gospel ;  for  if  they  hear  not  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  neither  would  they  be  persuaded  though 
one  rose  from  the  dead.  We  must,  therefore,  impute  the 
extraordinary  success  of  the  gospel  in  early  times,  and  in  the 
midst  of  fiery  persecution,  mainly  to  its  adaptation  to  human 
wants  and  the  human  conscience. 

In  subsequent  periods  of  the  world's  history,  this  same 
experiment  has  been  often  repeated.  And  it  has  ever  been 
true  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  cometh  not  with  observa 
tion.  No  loud  trumpets  have  sounded  its  advent ;  no  pow 
erful  array  of  means  has  ushered  it  in.  A  few  obscure  men, 
without  money  or  influence,  and  perhaps  with  little  of  worldly 
wisdom  or  policy,  unarmed  saved  by  the  Bible  and  faith, 
have  gone  into  the  arena  of  conflict,  like  David  to  meet 
<. Goliath.  And  so  inadequate  have  the  champions  and  th'.'ir 
weapons  seemed,  that  the  world  have  looked  upon  them  with 
as  much  contempt  and  derision  as  Philistia's  giant  did  upon 


THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.       237 

David.  And  yet  the  despised  pebble  has  found  its  way  to 
the  giant's  forehead,  and  the  Galilean  has  conquered. 

Take  Great  Britain,  for  an  example.  The  conquests  of 
that  kingdom  by  Julius  Caesar,  by  the  Saxons,  the  Danes,  and 
the  Normans,  are  all  on  record,  and  constitute  distinctly- 
marked  epochs  of  history.  But  who  can  tell  us  when  and 
how  Christianity  won  its  more  thorough  and  enduring  con 
quest,  penetrating  where  the  arms  of  the  Roman,  the  Dane, 
and  the  Saxon  could  not  reach,  and  converting  tribes  of  the 
rudest  heathen  into  civilized  and  Christian  men  ?  It  is,  in 
deed,  said  that  Augustine  and  a  few  other  monks  were  once 
sent  as  missionaries  to  Britain  ;  but  how  feeble  an  instrumen 
tality  to  accomplish  a  work  a  thousand  times  more  extensive 
and  important  than  all  the  conquests  to  which  Britain  has 
ever  been  subject,  or  which  she  has  made  by  her  arms  since 
her  political  existence  began.  Had  there  not  been  an  unseen, 
self-propagating  power  to  carry  forward  the  work,  begun 
only  in  here  and  there  a  spot  by  humble  missionaries,  the 
whole  mass  could  never  have  been  so  thoroughly  per 
meated. 

The  same  fact  exhibits  itself  when  we  compare  Christian 
with  pagan  or  Mohammedan  nations.  In  the  latter  you  meet 
with  much  more  of  the  external  manifestations  of  religion 
than  in  the  former.  Temples,  images,  processions,  public 
prayers,  and  other  rites,  are  rife  every  where  ;  but,  after  all, 
you  perceive  that  little  influence,  save  an  injurious  one,  is 
exerted  in  such  countries  upon  the  public  morals,  manners,  or 
welfare  ;  yet,  in  Christian  lands,  it  is  manifest  that  an  influ 
ence  has  gone  deeper  into  the  public  heart  and  conscience  ; 
and  hence  you  find  more  kindness,  amenity,  and  decency, 
more  of  civilization,  and  respect  for  morality  and  piety.  The 
rude  and  ferocious  elements  of  human  nature  are  more  tamed 


238       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

and  moulded  by  Christian  influences  than  by  pagan  or  Mo 
hammedan. 

I  believe  this  is  true  of  all  nominally  Christian  lands,  al 
though  we  must  confess  that,  in  many  of  them,  the  gospel  has 
been  well  nigh  deprived  of  its  vitality,  and  little  more  than  its 
external  covering  remains.  But  even  there  Christianity  exerts 
a  decidedly  better  influence  than  the  most  refined  system  of 
human  invention.  Moreover,  we  may  impute  whatever  of 
good  moral  influence  is  exerted  by  Mohammedanism  to  the 
principles  —  and  these  are  not  few  and  unimportant  —  which 
it  has  purloined  from  the  Bible. 

Again,  you  will  find  that  just  in  proportion  as  Christianity 
has  been  corrupted,  and  the  Bible  is  withheld  from  circulation 
among  the  people,  will  the  literary,  civil,  social,  and  moral 
condition  of  a  nation  be  degraded.  Suppose  you  had  the 
power  to  pass  suddenly  from  such  a  country  as  New  Eng 
land,  or  Old  England,  or  Scotland,  into  Austria,  Russia, 
Spain,  or  France.  Would  you  need  a  geographer  to  tell  you 
that  you  were  in  a  land  where  a  withering  blight  had  come 
over  the  pure  gospel  ?  While  you  would  meet  crucifixes, 
oratories,  cathedrals,  chapels,  and  confessionals  every  where, 
you  would  find  the  Bible  nowhere.  And  wfiile  you  would  hear 
Te  Dewns,  and  chanted  prayers,  and  the  praises  of  the  virgin 
and  the  saints  in  all  places  of  worship,  and  on  all  days  and 
hours,  you  would  listen  in  vain  for  unadulterated  gospel  truth 
at  any  time.  And  while  the  antiquated  walls  of  monasteries 
and  convents  would  meet  you  in  every  place,  the  academy 
and  the  school  house  would  be  wanting  in  all  places.  And 
when  you  became  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  great 
body  of  the  population  in  those  lands,  you  could  not  doubt 
that  the  gospel,  which  you  had  seen  doing  so  much  in  the 
country  from  which  you  came  to  elevate,  enlighten,  and  bless, 


THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.       239 

was  here  shorn  of  the  lock  of  its  strength,  and  had  been 
moulded  and  trimmed  to  adapt  it  to  systems  of  superstition, 
ignorance,  intolerance,  and  despotism. 

The  whole  history  of  the  missionary  enterprise,  foreign 
and  domestic,  affords  decisive  proof  of  the  leavening  influence 
of  the  gospel.  To  mere  worldly  wisdom,  the  most  striking 
feature  of  that  enterprise  is  the  total  inadequacy  between  the 
means  employed  and  the  expected  results.  When  a  man, 
who  has  been  accustomed  to  estimate  the  amount  of  outlay 
and  preparation  requisite  in  any  successful  undertaking  in 
commerce,  manufactures,  or  agriculture,  or  who  knows  the 
amount  of  effort  necessary  in  a  successful  political  campaign, 
—  when  such  a  man  looks  at  the  very  slender  instrumentality 
which  the  ablest  missionary  societies  employ  for  the  conver 
sion  of  the  world,  it  seems  to  him  a  want  of  wisdom  amount- 
ing  to  infatuation  to  go  forward.  Why,  men  are  more  tena 
cious  of  their  false  systems  of  religion  than  of  any  thing 
else  ;  and  yet  you  send  one,  or  two,  or  half  a  dozen  plain, 
powerless  men  among  twenty  or  fifty  millions,  and  are  disap 
pointed  if,  in  a  few  years,  you  do  not  hear  of  numerous 
conversions. 

Alike  inefficacious- do  such  feeble  instrumentalities  appear 
to  the  heathen  and  the  Mohammedans  themselves  !  And  this 
is  one  of  the  grounds  on  which  missionaries  are  allowed  to 
pursue  their  work  unmolested  in  countries  most  hostile  to 
their  plans.  Imagine,  for  instance,  that  the  Emperor  of 
China,  or  the  Shah  of  Persia,  or  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  should 
learn  that  one,  or  two,  or  even  half  a  dozen  unarmed,  inof 
fensive  men  had  taken  up  their  abode  in  Canton,  or  Oroo- 
miah,  or  Constantinople,  with  a  view  to  preach  the  doctrines 
of  Christianity,  and  to  teach  the  principles  of  human  science 
and  literature  to  the  young.  Do  you  think  that  either  of 


210       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

these  despots  would  have  any  fears  excited  that  the  estab 
lished  religion  of  the  country  was  in  danger  ?  Would  he  not 
treat  the  suggestion  with  contempt,  and  look  on  the  mission 
aries  as  deluded  men,  whose  efforts  to  proselyte  would  be 
harmless,  and  whose  literary  instructions  would  be  valuable 
to  the  empire,  and  therefore  their  residence  might  be  toler 
ated  ?  And  if  a  British  minister  would  be  gratified  by  having 
these  teachers  protected,  how  ready  would  he  be  to  issue  the 
decree  which  should  place  them  and  their  followers  on  a  foot 
ing  with  their  other  Christian  subjects.  But  let  these  rulers 
learn  something  of  the  catalytic  power  of  the  gospel,  by  see 
ing  multitudes  converted,  as  if  by  a  mysterious  influence,  and 
you  would  see  the  sword  of  persecution  unsheathed  and  mar 
tyrs  multiplied.  And  it  is  mainly  because  such  conversions 
have  not  been  in  general  extensive  enough  to  arrest  the  atten 
tion  of  rulers,  that  persecutions  by  the  government  are  so  in 
frequent.  I  fear  that  they  are  yet  to  put  the  faith  and  courage 
of  the  church  severely  to  the  test.  For  by  and  by,  heathen 
and  Mohammedan  nations  will  learn  that  the  leaven  of  the 
gospel,  hid  in  the  community  by  the  humble  missionary,  has, 
unperceived,  sent  its  transforming  power  through  the  whole 
torpid  mass,  and  that  their  false  systems  are  crumbling  into 
ruins. 

A  still  more  manifest  example  of  this  mighty  though  unno 
ticed  influence  is  often  seen  in  our  own  land,  when  the  do 
mestic  Missionary  Society  sends  its  benevolent  agencies  into 
some  waste  place  where  iniquity  is  triumphant.  In  such  a 
place  are  found,  it  may  be,  a  few  humble  Christians,  but  the 
wealth,  the  fashion,  and  worldly  influence  are  all  hostile  to 
the  truth  ;  and  when  the  missionary  calls  around  him  the  few 
followers  of  Christ  at  the  prayer  meeting  and  in  the  church, 
it  only  makes  matter  for  amusement  and  ridicule  among 


THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.       241 

others,  who,  in  view  of  the  apparent  feebleness  of  the  instru 
mentality,  exclaim,  with  Sanballat  and  Tobiah  of  old,  What 
do  these  feeble  Christians  ?  Will  they  revive  the  stones  out 
of  the  heaps  of  the  rubbish  which  are  burned  ?  Even  that 
which  they  build,  if  a  fox  go  up,  he  shall  even  break  down 
their  stone  wall.  But  the  despised  leaven  silently  operates  ; 
God's  Spirit  comes  down  to  urge  the  movement  forward,  and 
the  great  mountain  that  seemed  so  strong  crumbles  down  and 
becomes  a  plain.  The  gospel  triumphs  ;  decency  and  refine 
ment  of  manners  take  the  place  of  obscenity  and  vulgarity  ; 
temperance  succeeds  to  drunkenness  ;  peace  to  discord  ;  thrift 
and  enterprise  to  decay  and  poverty ;  and  spiritual  religion  to 
errors  of  every  name.  Yet  so  quietly  was  the  change  effect 
ed  through  the  gospel's  catalytic  power,  that  opposition  and 
scepticism  stand  amazed. 

From  this  principle  of  the  self-propagating  power  of  the 
gospel,  thus  established,  we  may  derive  inferences  of  great 
importance,  and  eminently  adapted  to  encourage  and  strength 
en  those  engaged  in  the  missionary  enterprise,  whether  do 
mestic  or  foreign.  Indeed,  since  the  recent  rapid  expansion 
of  our  population  across  this  broad  continent,  these  terms,  do 
mestic  and  foreign,  have  become  nearly  synonymous. 

In  thefrst  place,  this  subject  should  inspire  us  with  strong 
confidence  in  the  power  of  divine  truth. 

The  current  of  worldliness  often  sets  so  strongly  against 
the  truth,  and  the  means  appointed  for  its  diffusion  seem  so 
simple  and  inadequate,  that  we  are  apt  to  be  disheartened,  and 
to  forget  the  mighty  power  which  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel 
possess  to  work  their  way  amid  obstacles,  and  become  mighty 
through  God  to  the  pulling  down  of  strong  holds.  But  when 
we  recollect  what  that  truth  has  done  in  time  past,  how  it  has 
transformed  whole  nations  as  if  by  magic,  how  at  this  mo- 
21 


242  THE    CATALYTIC    POWER    OF    THE    GOSPEL. 

ment,  abused  and  perverted  as  we  know  it  to  be,  it  makes 
Christian  nations  stand  out  on  the  world's  panorama  so  con 
spicuously,  and  when  we  think  of  its  wonderful  adaptation  to 
the  deepest  wants  of  man,  and  what  a  stern  advocate  it  finds 
in  the  human  conscience,  and  especially  how  thorough  is  the 
renovation  of  the  individual  who  gives  himself  up  entirely  to 
its  influence,  we  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  our  distrust  of  its 
power,  and  to  feel  that  we  have  in  our  hands  an  instrument 
which,  by  God's  blessing,  can  and  will  create  anew  and  sanc 
tify  our  lost  world.  So  that  wherever  we  have  an  opportunity 
to  bring  the  gospel  in  contact  with  the  human  conscience  and 
reason,  we  ought  to  urge  its  claims  with  as  undoubted  an  as 
surance  of  its  efficacy  as  a  woman  exercises  when  she  hides 
only  a  modicum  of  leaven  in  three  measures  of  meal. 

Secondly,  the  subject  is  full  of  encouragement  to  those  who 
are  laboring  in  weakness  with  great  obstacles  and  dis 
couragements,  in  the  dissemination  of  the  truths  of  the 
gospel. 

Let  them  remember  that  the  leaven,  when  mixed  with  the 
meal,  seems  to  be  lost,  and  little  or  no  visible  effect  is  pro 
duced,  until  at  length  it  is  found  that  the  whole  loaf  is  thorough 
ly  leavened.  Let  them  remember,  too,  that  the  pure  gospel, 
when  brought  in  contact  with  men's  consciences,  is  as  sure  to 
commence  a  catalytic  process  there,  as  good  leaven  is  in  the 
meal,  although  without  special  grace  it  will  not  result  in  con 
version.  Nor  will  the  laborer,  perhaps,  perceive  any  good 
effect  produced  for  a  long  time,  and  possibly  not  while  he 
lives.  But  moral  reformations  usually  move  very  slowly  on 
ward.  It  needs  time  for  the  leaven  to  work.  And  in  many 
cases  the  sower  is  not  permitted  to  gather  the  sheaves.  But 
if  they  are  finally  reaped,  he  that  soweth  and  he  that  reapeth 
will  rejoice  together.  Let  him  who  is  faithful  in  doing  his 


THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.       243 

duty  in  some  barren  field  of  labor,  be  assured  that  the  truth 
has  never  yet  failed  to  manifest,  sooner  or  later,  its  transform 
ing  power.  His  field  of  labor  may  be  narrow,  and  his  dis 
couragements  many  ;  but  let  him  bear  in  mind  that  he  has 
a  mighty  instrument  to  work  with,  and  an  almighty  God 
pledged  to  sustain  him. 

In  the  third  place.,  the  subject  shows  the  fallacy  of  the  doc- 
trine,  that  the  world  is  growing  worse,  and  will  continue  to 
grow  worse,  in  spite  of  all  efforts  to  spread  the  gospel, 

The  world  does  indeed  abound  with  wickedness,  and  often 
the  success  of  the  truth  in  a  place  is  the  occasion  of  a  grosser 
development  of  iniquity.  But  the  truth  has  the  advantage, 
because  it  meets  and  satisfies  man's  highest  wants  so  complete 
ly,  and  enlists  in  its  favor  the  human  conscience.  And 
whence  arises  this  want  of  confidence  in  the  truth,  as  an  in 
strument  of  the  world's  conversion,  among  these  our  brethren, 
some  of  whom  are  missionaries,  and  yet  they  do  not  believe 
the  world  can  be  converted  by  the  gospel,  but  will  continue  to 
grow  worse  till  the  Saviour  makes  a  visible  display  of  his 
power  ?  Have  they  not  felt  the  power  of  truth  in  their  own 
souls  ?  and  have  they  not  seen  its  mighty  efficacy  upon  the 
souls  of  others  ?  Do  they  doubt  its  ability,  when  applied  by 
God's  Spirit,  to  convert  the  world  ?  If  the  world  is  growing 
worse,  how  happens  it  that  all  Christian  nations,  even  where 
the  gospel  is  dreadfully  perverted,  are  so  far  superior  in  char 
acter  and  condition  to  pagan  and  Mohammedan  nations  ? 
Surely  these  men  fonget  the  catalytic  power  of  the  gospel,  as 
developed  in  history.  True,  the  improved  physical,  social, 
and  intellectual  condition  of  a  nation  is  far  from  being  its 
conversion  to  God.  But  it  is  an  important  prerequisite  to  that 
conversion.  And  it  does  imply  that  some  in  that  nation  are 
truly  converted  ;  and  why  is  not  all  this  an  earnest  of  the 


244       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

final  and  complete  triumph  of  pure  religion,  if  its  compara 
tively  few  genuine  disciples  do  their  duty  ?  For  every  acces 
sion  to  their  number  increases  their  power  ;  and  why  may  not 
that  leavening  influence  go  on  till  it  has  reached  the  world's 
entire  population  ? 

In  the  gospel,  then,  you  have  an  agency  abundantly  ade 
quate  to  the  work  ;  and  why  then  call  in  miraculous  power  ? 
for  we  know  that  it  is  a  settled  principle  of  the  divine  gov 
ernment,  not  to  work  a  miracle  when  established  agencies  are 
sufficient. 

Finally,  this  subject  should  greatly  encourage  and  ani 
mate  the  hopes  and  efforts  of  those  engaged  in  the  work  of 
missions. 

They  learn  from  it  that  they  need  not  be  discouraged, 
though  the  common  principles  by  which  men  judge  of  the 
probable  success  of  their  enterprises,  should  show  their  chance 
to  be  small.  The  fact  that  they  are  following  a  divine  com 
mand,  to  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature,  may,  indeed,  be  sufficient  to  give  them  courage  and 
perseverance  amid  powerful  difficulties.  But  it  is  important, 
also,  to  know  what  an  extraordinary  instrument  they  possess 
for  carrying  on  the  enterprise  ;  how  it  works  its  way  into  the 
hearts  of  men,  and  silently  changes  their  characters  and  the 
whole  aspect  of  society,  and  sends  down  an  influence,  they 
cannot  tell  how  far,  into  generations  unborn.  It  is,  indeed, 
quick  and  powerful,  sharper  than  a  two-edged  sword,  pier 
cing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  foul  and  spirit,  and 
of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart.  It  takes  a  stronger  hold  of  society 
than  all  other  influences,  and  abides  longer.  Its  secret  energy 
rouses  human  society  into  action,  and  propagates  the  catalytic 
change  from  individual  to  individual,  from  family  to  family, 


THE    CATALYTIC    POWER    OF    THE    GOSPEL.  245 

from  community  to  community,  and  sometimes  from  kingdom 
to  kingdom.  Nor  can  the  missionary  tell,  when  he  deposits  the 
leaven  of  the  gospel  in  one  spot,  even  though  scarcely  heeded 
there,  but  he  has  started  a  process  which  shall  go  radiating 
outwards  over  a  whole  continent ;  for  thus  it  has  often  done. 

But  though  thus  adapted  to  cheer  the  missionary  in  every 
land,  this  principle  affords  much  more  encouragement  in  some 
countries  than  in  others  ;  and  most  of  all,  on  American  soil  ; 
to  the  home  missionary  here.  To  prove  and  illustrate  this 
from  the  analogies  of  my  text,  let  us  recur  to  certain  facts 
respecting  catalytic  operations  in  nature,  which  I  neglected  at 
the  commencement  of  this  discourse. 

The  essential  principle  to  which  I  mainly  refer  is  this  :  that 
in  order  to  make  leaven  or  any  other  catalytic  agent  operate,  it 
is  necessary  that  the  mass  to  be  leavened  should  be  in  a  certain 
state,  as  to  consistency,  temperature,  and  permeability.  The 
baker  well  knows  that  it  is  of  no  use  to  hide  leaven  in  a  mass 
of  frozen  dough,  nor  unless  its  temperature  is  a  good  deal 
above  the  freezing  point.  So  if  from  any  other  cause  it  has 
become  condensed  and  rigid,  the  leaven  cannot  spread  itself 
among  the  particles,  and  little  or  no  effect  will  be  produced, 
even  though  the  leaven  be  in  the  best  condition. 

Apply  now  these  principles  to  the  dissemination  of  the  gos 
pel.  Attempt  to  propagate  its  truths  in  a  country  where  hea 
thenism,  or  Mohammedanism,  or  corrupt  Christianity,  is  firmly 
established,  is  sustained  by  the  learned  few,  and  the  ignorant 
and  superstitious  many,  and  by  wealth  and  influence ;  is 
linked  inseparably  to  the  government,  and  can  show  a  long 
list  of  illustrious  defenders.  By  such  causes  the  false  system 
has  been  knit  firmly  together,  and  is  settled  down  into  a  hard, 
impenetrable  mass,  which  resists  all  change.  Without  a  mir 
acle  you  would  expect  that  if  the  truth  should  make  any  head- 
21* 


246       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

way,  it  would  be  slow  and  difficult.  Whereas  in  a  nation 
where  a  false  religious  system  sits  loose  upon  the  people,  and 
has  little  social  or  governmental  support,  and  especially  where 
commerce,  education,  and  free  principles  are  breaking  up  the 
torpid  and  indurated  mass,  the  way  is  prepared  for  the  gos 
pel's  catalytic  power  to  show  its  mighty  transforming  energy. 

Facts  now  corroborate  the  truth  of  these  principles.  For 
never  has  the  gospel  made  rapid  progress  in  any  country 
where  a  false  system  of  religion  has  intrenched  itself  behind 
the  prejudices,  the  social  habits,  the  pecuniary  interests,  the 
splendor  of  rites  and  forms,  and  governmental  favor  ;  and  its 
most  signal  triumphs  have  been  witnessed  where  the  false  sys 
tem  has  but  a  feeble  hold  upon  the  public  mind,  or  men  have 
begun  to  think  for  themselves.  Certain  conditions  seem  ne 
cessary,  in  order  that  the  leaven  may  work ;  nor  where  these 
are  wanting  are  we  to  expect  success,  any  more  than  that  the 
laws  of  chemistry  will  be  set  aside  in  the  process  of  bread 
making.  God  does  sometimes,  indeed,  give  unexpected  suc 
cess  by  the  power  of  his  Spirit,  to  show  that,  after  all,  the 
efficiency  lies  with  him.  But  such  cases  are  exceptions, 
which  we  cannot  calculate  upon,  and  are  not  our  rule  of  judg 
ment  or  of  duty. 

From  these  principles  we  should  confidently  infer,  that  Mo 
hammedanism,  and  especially  popery,  would  offer  more  pow 
erful  obstructions  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel  than  any  other 
systems  of  error.  Hence  it  is,  that  while  missionary  stations 
are  multiplied  among  the  heathen,  they  are  yet  so  few  in  the 
great  centres  of  Mohammedan  and  Papal  influence  in  Asia 
and  Europe.  Nor  can  we  doubt,  that  long  after  every  heathen 
pagoda  has  been  converted  into  a  Christian  temple,  —  nay, 
long  after  the  Bible  shall  have  supplanted  the  Koran  in  every 
mosque  and  minaret,  —  will  the  perverted  Christianity  of 


THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.       247 

forms,  propped  up  by  leagues  and  bayonets,  present  its  yet 
unbroken  front,  to  be  breached  only  in  the  battle  of  that  great 
day  of  God  Almighty. 

On  the  other  hand,  from  these  same  principles,  we  infer 
that  nowhere  on  earth  is  there  such  a  preparation  for  the 
spread  of  pure  Christianity  as  in  our  own  land.  Here  we 
have  no  inert  and  indurated  mass  of  dead  formalism  to  break 
up  ;  no  frozen  and  petrified  system  of  rites  and  ceremonies 
to  arrest  the  leavening  process ;  no  iron  arm  of  government 
to  check  the  onward  movement.  But  the  genial  light  and 
warmth  of  free  institutions  and  of  general  education  have 
brought  the  community  into  a  state  most  favorable  for  receiv 
ing  the  gospel  and  giving  it  free  course.  Wherever  faithfully 
planted,  it  is  sure  to  communicate  and  spread  its  vitalizing  in 
fluence  outward  and  onward ;  and  if  Christians  will  only  do 
their  duty,  they  may  be  sure  that  the  whole  land  will  be 
leavened. 

And  here  I  ought  to  mention  another  chemical  principle 
that  has  a  parallel  in  the  condition  of  our  country.  Chemists 
tell  us  that  elements  in  their  nascent  state  —  that  is,  when  first 
produced  —  unite  far  more  readily  than  they  do  afterwards. 
Now,  the  elements  of  our  social  condition  are  as  yet,  in  a 
great  measure,  in  a  nascent  state,  and  therefore  more  ready 
to  be  operated  upon  and  form  valuable  combinations  than  in 
the  old  world,  where  every  thing  has  long  since  become  im 
movably  fixed,  either  by  affinities  within  or  pressure  without. 
O,  how  important  that  the  gospel  exert  its  catalytic  power 
upon  our  population,  before  that  same  binding  and  paralyzing 
process  pass  upon  them  !  The  wide  world  does  not  furnish 
another  field  of  missionary  labor  so  promising.  I  mean  not 
by  this,  that  other  countries  are  not  open  to  the  gospel,  and 
that  missionary  efforts  should  be  limited  to  our  own  land. 


248       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

\ 

God  bless  these  efforts  and  increase  them  a  hundred  fold  in 
every  land.  But  I  do  mean,  that  our  country  preeminently 
invites  and  demands  efforts  for  its  evangelization.  I  do  mean, 
that  it  is  a  more  promising  and  a  more  important  field  than 
any  other  on  the  globe,  and  therefore  calls  for  every  heart 
and  every  hand  to  engage  in  it. 

Do  I  seem  to  any  to  be  taking  too  strong  ground  ?  Let  me 
propose  to  them  an  experiment,  which  I  sincerely  wish  all  my 
hearers  could  try,  to  test  this  opinion.  Let  them  take  the  next 
steamer  across  the  Atlantic,  and  in  one  fortnight  they  would 
find  themselves  on  ground  very  favorable  for  a  comparison. 
They  would  be  traversing  lands  where  state  religions  exist, 
with  all  their  pompous  and  imposing  rites  and  ceremonies, 
with  their  exclusive  and  intolerant  spirit,  and  their  hostility  to 
freedom  of  opinion,  and  to  all  that  is  vital  in  personal  piety. 
Religion  there  is  sustained  by  governmental  decrees  and  by 
bayonets.  Throttled  in  the  embraces  of  the  state,  its  lifeless 
form  is  made  use  of  as  a  speaking  trumpet,  through  which 
are  proclaimed,  not  the  doctrines  of  God,  but  of  man  ;  such 
as  the  divine  right  of  kings,  the  duty  of  unreserved  submis 
sion  to  the  government  and  the  church  ;  the  infallibility  of  the 
church,  not  of  the  Bible.  The  sweet  countenance  of  gospel 
charity  has  been  changed  into  that  of  a  persecuting  fiend  ; 
and  the  snaky  locks  of  a  Gorgon  cover  her  head,  freezing  and 
petrifying  all  around.  All  places  are  full  of  religious  forms, 
but  alas  !  to  find  its  power  you  must  search  long  and  deep. 
The  very  highways  are  studded  with  crosses  and  crucified 
Christs,  with  oratories  and  images  of  the  virgin,  while  the 
towns  abound  with  vast  and  venerable  cathedrals  and  chapels, 
full  of  golden  images,  splendid  paintings,  and  sacred  relics  ; 
and  the  magnificent  organ  peals  along  the  sounding  arches 
and  thrills  the  wondering  soul,  as  the  gilded  priests  chant 


THE    CATALYTIC    TOWER    OF    THE    GOSPEL.  219 

their  Te  Dennis,  their  Pater  Nosters,  and  their  Ave  Marias. 
You  enter  the  convent  at  the  sound  of  the  vesper  bell,  and  a 
thousand  white-veiled  nuns  are  kneeling  around  you,  and  gor 
geous  music  lends  enchantment  to  the  vesper  hymn.  Every 
where  in  the  streets  you  meet  the  cassocked  priest,  and  often  the 
imposing  procession,  while  the  multitudes  uncover  their  heads 
as  it  passes.  In  short,  to  an  American,  accustomed  to  the  sim 
plicity  of  our  modes  of  worship,  the  most  prominent  feature 
in  European  lands,  save  in  the  glorious  fast-anchored  isle,  — 
and  even  there  to  great  extent,  —  is,  that  in  spite  of  the  most 
imposing  externals,  the  whole  is  little  more  than  heartless  for 
mality —  a  wretched  substitute  for  the  bread  of  life.  Yet 
when  he  sees  how  firmly  rooted  is  this  system  in  the  pride 
and  prejudice,  the  worldly  interest,  the  interests  of  despotic 
governments,  and  a  swarming  priesthood,  and  how  it  is  woven 
into  the  very  texture  of  society,  he  cannot  but  feel  that  little 
short  of  a  miracle  will  be  required  for  effecting  a  revolution. 
With  what  deep  interest,  then,  after  only  a  few  weeks  of 
such  observation  in  those  lands,  will  the  heart  of  the  Christian 
American  turn  towards  his  own  country  !  In  the  hallowed 
language  of  our  gubernatorial  proclamations,  he  will  exclaim, 
"  God  save  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  !  "  Save  her 
religion  from  the  base  alloy  of  formalism,  superstition,  and 
intolerance.  Save  her  system  of  education  from  the  blighting 
touch  of  aristocracy  and  priestcraft.  Save  her  free  institu 
tions  from  the  savage  ferocity  of  the  ignorant  and  unprin 
cipled  many,  and  the  grinding  oppression  of  the  despotic  few. 
Save  her,  for  the  sake  of  the  country.  And  God  save  that 
whole  country,  for  her  own  sake,  and  the  sake  of  the  world. 
For  to  save  her  is  to  save  the  world ;  and  to  lose  her  is  to  lose 
the  world. 

It  needs  only  a  short  pilgrimage  through  the  old  world  to 


250       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

excite  such  sentiments  as  these  in  the  heart  of  a  Massachu 
setts  American.  And  his  prayer  to  God  will  be,  that  he  may 
live  to  go  back  and  labor  harder  than  he  has  ever  done,  to 
build  up  the  cause  of  pure  religion,  of  learning,  and  of  free 
dom,  in  that  land  which  he  has  now  learned  to  be  the  only  one 
on  earth  where,  for  the  present,  this  indissoluble  trio  of  noble 
institutions  has  any  chance  of  wide-spread  success.  And  if 
this  man  learns  only  this  lesson  by  his  foreign  tour,  it  is 
worth  all  the  sacrifice  and  expense  of  ten  thousand  miles  of 
voyage  and  travel. 

What  a  noble  work,  then,  is  committed  to  our  hands! 
What  an  inviting  field  has  the  Home  Missionary  Society  be 
fore  it !  The  man  who  enters  it  finds  society  not  only  in  a 
state  more  favorable  for  casting  in  the  leaven  of  the  gospel, 
but  that  the  influence  of  his  labors  is  felt  almost  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth.  Let  him  be  laboring  to  build  up  some  obscure 
waste  place,  say  in  Massachusetts.  He  may  seem  to  be  un 
noticed  and  neglected.  But  he  is  doing  his  part  towards  sus 
taining  and  perpetuating  the  free  and  the  religious  institutions 
of  the  country,  and  therefore,  in  fact,  the  eyes  of  many  mil 
lions  in  Europe  are  watching  his  labors  with  deep  interest, 
and  with  earnest  prayers  for  his  fidelity  ;  for  their  chief  hope 
of  the  world's  emancipation  rests  on  the  success  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  here.  And  if  the  true  gospel  be  not  preached 
and  received  among  us,  free  institutions  must  for  the  present 
fail.  In  preaching  the  gospel,  therefore,  in  the  obscurest 
nook  of  the  land,  a  man  may  feel  that  he  is  working  for  the 
whole  country,  nay,  for  the  whole  world.  Indeed,  Providence 
is  sending  representations  from  the  whole  world  to  our  doors. 
By  multitudes  they  pour  in  upon  us  from  every  European 
land,  and  swarms  of  Asiatics  are  crowding  into  the  valleys 
of  California.  So  that  in  fact  we  may  become  missionaries 


THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.       251 

to  Papists,  Mohammedans,  Boodhists,  and  other  heathen, 
without  leaving  our  own  shores. 

What  responsibility,  then,  attaches  to  the  name  and  posi 
tion  of  an  American  !  When,  in  foreign  lands,  I  have  met 
kings  and  queens,  dukes  and  marquises,  counts  and  viscounts, 
they  appeared  to  be  men  and  women  of  only  the  ordinary 
stature ;  but  when  I  first  set  my  foot  again  upon  our  own 
shores,  and  met  free-born  Christian  Americans,  it  seemed  to 
me  that  I  was  looking  upon  giants,  because  God  has  given 
them  the  power  of  giants  to  bear  up  the  pillars  of  freedom, 
of  education,  and  of  religion,  and  to  cast  down  the  pillars  of 
ignorance,  superstition,  and  despotism. 

If  your  patience  is  not  quite  exhausted,  allow  me  to  add 
one  or  two  further  suggestions,  growing  out  of  a  scientific 
view  of  the  text. 

In  order  that  leaven  should  operate  effectually,  or  even 
operate  at  all,  it  must  itself  be  in  an  active  condition,  and  of 
a  proper  temperature.  In  proportion  as  its  thermometric 
state  is  too  high  or  too  low,  or  if  there  be  an  admixture  of 
inert  substances,  or  its  own  decomposition  be  slow  or  partial, 
will  its  catalytic  power  be  diminished.  It  must  be  in  such  a 
condition  that  a  living  plant  can  flourish  within  it.  For  if 
there  be  no  life  in  it,  no  vital  power  will  be  communicated  to 
the  surrounding  mass. 

So  it  is  with  the  moral  leaven  of  the  gospel.  If  its  purity 
be  marred  by  an  admixture  of  error  and  vain  speculation,  or 
if  it  be  cast  into  the  community  distorted  by  ignorance,  or 
disfigured  and  blackened  by  the  fires  of  fanaticism,  or  en 
veloped  in  the  ice  of  formalism,  feeble  will  be  its  influence, 
if  indeed  it  do  not  become  a  nuisance.  Instead  of  proving 
the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation, 
men  will  see  in  it  only  the  weakness  of  human  wisdom  and 


252       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

strength,  overpowered  by  the  superior  might  of  human  de 
pravity. 

Now,  it  is  this  perverted  and  deficient  gospel,  that  too  often 
fiuds  its  way  into  our  waste  places,  into  our  new  settlements, 
and  among  the  floating  population  of  our  cities.  It  has  the 
name  of  Christianity,  and  usually  contains  some  truth,  but  a 
larger  proportion  of  error ;  so  that  while  it  produces  traces 
of  religion,  it  shows  more  of  fanaticism,  or  bigotry,  or  self- 
righteousness  and  formalism.  How  important,  then,  that  into 
fields  thus  grown  over  with  briers  and  weeds,  a  pure  and  holy 
gospel  should  be  carried  by  pure  and  holy  men  !  Those  en 
gaged  in  sending  this  gospel  abroad,  through  our  Home  Mis 
sionary  Societies,  should  have  their  piety  in  that  living,  active 
condition,  without  which  their  prayers,  example,  and  efforts 
will  only  deepen  the  spiritual  slumbers  of  ignorance  and  sin. 
And  still  more  important  is  it,  that  the  direct  agents  in  this 
work  should  preach  an  unadulterated  gospel,  not  only  by  their 
voices  but  by  their  lives. 

Finally,  astonishing  as  is  the  power  of  leaven  to  change 
the  mass  into  which  it  is  cast,  there  is  a  limit  to  that  power. 
One  part  may,  indeed,  transform  two  thousand  parts  of  the 
meal ;  but  if  the  latter  be  increased  much  beyond  that  pro 
portion,  not  only  will  all  the  excess  remain  unaffected,  but  it 
will  operate  to  prevent  the  leaven  from  producing  its  full 
effect.  Nay,  it  may  nearly  or  quite  destroy  that  effect. 
Hence,  if  the  leaven  and  the  mass  to  be  leavened  be  enor 
mously  disproportionate,  the  best  leaven  may  become 
powerless. 

Now,  to  apply  this  principle  to  home  missionary  efforts,  I 
fear,  my  brethren,  that  this  is  just  what  we  are  doing  in  our 
country.  The  mass  to  be  leavened  by  the  gospel  is  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  means  employed.  In  1850,  we  built  be- 


THE    CATALYTIC    POWER    OF    THE    GOSPEL.  253 

tween  four  and  five  thousand  miles  of  railroad,  at  an  average 
cost  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  per  mile.  During  that  same 
year,  we  expended  only  enough  upon  domestic  missions  to 
construct  five  miles  of  railway.  And  railways  are  only  one 
branch  of  American  enterprise  out  of  many.  How  exceed 
ingly  small,  then,  must  be  the  proportion  of  our  pecuniary 
means  devoted  to  an  enterprise  which  transcends  all  others  in 
our  country  in  importance  !  For  if  that  fail,  all  others  will  be 
smitten  with  a  deadly  blight.  Irreligion  cannot  triumph  with 
out  trampling  in  the  dust  our  systems  of  general  education, 
of  public  enterprise  and  freedom,  and  crushing  the  hopes  of 
liberty  through  the  earth.  Our  hopes,  therefore,  must  centre 
in  the  Home  Missionary  cause.  We  make  enormous  outlays, 
and  labor  without  weariness  to  advance  our  worldly  schemes, 
and  that,  too,  where  the  means  employed  have  little  or  none 
of  the  catalytic  power  inherent  in  the  gospel,  and  where  the 
results  bear  no  proportion  in  importance  to  the  work  of  Home 
Missions.  God  has  committed  to  American  Christians  the 
noblest  enterprise  which  he  has  given  to  the  present  genera 
tion  in  any  part  of  the  world.  And  he  has  put  into  our 
hands  an  instrument  with  which  to  accomplish  it,  a  thousand 
times  more  efficacious  than  those  employed  in  commerce,  in 
manufactures,  in  agriculture,  or  indeed  any  ordinary  art  or 
pursuit.  How  dwarfed  must  be  our  piety,  how  low  our  stan 
dard  of  patriotism,  how  contemptible  our  philanthropy,  if  we 
do  not  supply  the  means  necessary  to  prevent  the  leaven  of 
the  gospel  from  being  overpowered  and  neutralized  by  igno 
rance  and  depravity  !  Ought  we  to  be  satisfied  to  expend 
fifty  million  dollars  annually  for  railways,  and  only  one  thou 
sandth  part  as  much  in  working  out  the  grandest  problem  in 
politics,  in  education  and  religion,  of  this  generation  ?  O,  if 
any  cause  has  motives  powerful  enough  to  rouse  men  to 
22 


254       THE  CATALYTIC  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

action,  it  is  this.  If  we  enter  into  the  work  resolutely  and 
cheerfully,  with  humble  reliance  on  God's  help,  we  are  sure 
of  success.  And  success  will  bring  such  a  day  of  brightness 
and  blessing  to  this  wide  continent,  as  never  yet  has  visited 
any  other.  Though  the  deluge  of  ignorance,  despotism,  and 
false  religion  should  ingulf  every  other  land,  ours  shall  stand 
high  above  the  flood,  and  beat  back  its  angry  waves  ;  and,  ere 
the  close  of  the  present  century,  one  hundred  millions  of 
Christian  freemen  shall  here  be  found  richly  enjoying  those 
social,  political,  educational,  and  religious  rights  and  privi 
leges,  which  God  originally  gave,  but  which  man  has  hith 
erto  unrighteously  withheld. 


THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 
ASTRONOMICALLY  ILLUSTRATED. 


For  I  am  in  a  strait  betwixt  two,  having  a  desire  to  depart  and  to  be  with 
Christ,  which  is  far  better.  Nevertheless,  to  abide  in  the  flesh  is  more 
needful  for  you.  —  Philippians  i.  23,  24. 

ATTRACTION  and  repulsion  are  the  two  great  principles  by 
which  the  spiritual,  as  well  as  the  material,  world  is  con 
trolled.  The  former  tends  to  unite  mind  to  mind  and  matter 
to  matter,  the  latter  to  drive  them  asunder.  And  the  struggle 
that  is  going  on  between  them  originates  most  of  the  move 
ments  of  matter  and  of  mind  in  the  universe.  When  we 
speak,  however,  of  mental  attractions  and  repulsions,  we  use 
language  figuratively.  We  mean  by  the  first  only  those 
mutual  affections  which  unite  those  who  have  similar  opinions, 
and  feelings,  and  aims;  and  by  the  latter  we  mean  those 
antipathies  which  result  from  dissimilar  opinions,  feelings,  and 
aims.  There  is,  however,  a  strong  analogy  between  the 
literal  attractions  and  repulsions  of  matter  and  the  affections 
and  antipathies  of  mind,  so  that  the  latter  may  be  illustrated 
by  the  former.  And  to  some  illustrations  of  this  sort  I  wish 
to  call  your  attention  at  this  time. 

The  text  represents  Paul  as  almost  balanced  between  two 
powerful  attractions  —  those  of  heaven  and  those  of  earth. 

(255) 


256      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

So  far  as  his  own  happiness  was  concerned,  the  attractions 
of  the  heavenly  world  were  vastly  the  more  powerful  ;  for 
he  says  that  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ  is  letter  beyond 
expression  —  using  the  strongest  superlative  in  the  Greek 
language,  and  to  which  we  have  no  phrase  exactly  corre 
sponding,  but  which  Dr.  Doddridge  renders  by  the  words  bet 
ter  beyond  expression.  When  he  thought  of  the  glories  of 
the  heavenly  state,  and  of  being  admitted  to  the  immediate 
society  of  Christ,  his  heart  was  drawn  upward  by  an  almost 
overwhelming  force.  But  when  he  thought  of  leaving  his 
Christian  friends  and  converts  in  a  dangerous  world,  and  that 
by  his  continuance  with  them  he  might  help  them  in  their 
spiritual  warfare,  and  be  the  means  of  the  conversion  of 
others,  he  felt  the  ties  that  bound  him  to  his  friends,  and  his 
duty  holding  him  to  the  world  with  an  equal  power  ;  so  that, 
upon  the  whole,  he  could  not  decide  in  which  direction  he 
was  more  forcibly  drawn. 

The  attractions  of  heaven  and  of  earth  are  the  two  great 
influences  by  which  men  in  all  ages,  and  especially  Christian 
men,  are  governed.  Very  few  indeed  are  in  doubt  which  is 
the  stronger  force  ;  for,  alas  !  most  of  us  know  very  well  that 
our  hearts  cleave  to  this  world  with  almost  irresistible  im 
pulse,  while  heaven  seems  distant  and  but  feebly  attractive. 
Still  we  shall  find,  now  and  at  all  times,  some  at  almost  every 
point  along  the  scale  between  the  extremes  of  entire  devotion 
to  the  world  and  entire  devotion  to  God ;  and  it  may  not  be 
unprofitable  to  spend  a  few  moments  in  drawing  some  illus 
trations  of  the  mode  in  which  these  two  influences  operate 
from  the  laws  of  attraction  which  control  the  heavenly  bodies, 
as  they  are  developed  by  the  researches  of  modern  astron 
omy.  Most  of  these  illustrations  are  -derived  from  the  manner 
in  which  the  earth,  moon,  and  sun  operate  upon  one  another 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  257 

—  the  sun  representing  heaven,  the  moon  the  Christian,  and 
the  earth  the  central  point  of  all  influences  which  act  on  man 
this  side  eternity. 

And  here  I  ought,  probably,  to  apologize  for  an  innovation 
which  I  shall  venture  to  make  upon  the  usual  mode  of  ser 
monizing,  by  the  introduction  of  a  few  sensible  illustrations, 
or  diagrams,  to  make  my  meaning* intelligible  and  impressive. 
My  reasons  for  this  course  are  the  following :  First,  I  do  not 
suppose  I  could  otherwise  make  my  meaning  clear  even  to  a 
highly  intelligent  audience  ;  secondly,  the  only  object  of  the 
diagrams  is  to  make  scientific  truths  understood  and  remem 
bered,  not  to  indulge  in  curious  scientific  speculations ;  third 
ly,  I  conceive  that  the  religious  applications  of  science  are  its 
most  important  use  ;  and  I  know  not  how  such  a  use  can  be 
made  of  science,  if  we  may  not  employ  enough  of  sensible 
illustrations  to  make  its  truths  clearly  understood.  However, 
if  the  novel  course  which  I  adopt  seem  objectionable  to  any 
after  I  shall  have  finished,  let  it  be  condemned.  But  when  I 
recollect  how  often  science  has  been  used  in  opposition  to 
religion,  I  do  not  anticipate  condemnation  in  this  attempt  to 
make  it  auxiliary  to  the  sacred  cause  of  holiness,  although  the 
object  of  my  illustrations  is  not  to  prove  any  point,  but  merely 
to  elucidate  and  impress  religious  truth. 

In  the  first  place,  in  order  to  cause  any  body  to  revolve 
around  a  larger  one  in  a  circular  orbit,  so  as  to  be  always 
equidistant  from  it,  it  is  necessary  that  a  certain  amount  of 
force  be  imparted  to  the  revolving  body,  and  in  a  certain 
direction.  In  the  case  of  the  planets,  the  two  forces  are  so 
balanced  as  to  produce  a  nearly  circular  motion  ;  but  in  the 
case  of  the  comets,  they  are  so  unequal,  —  the  impulsive  or 
tangential  force  so  predominates  over  the  attractive,  —  that 
they  move  in  elliptical  orbits.  Now,  let  us  imagine  the  earth 
22* 


258      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

(E,  Fig.  1,  Frontispiece)*  moving  in  a  circular  orbit  around 
the  sun,  (S,)  by  a  proper  equilibrium  of  the  two  acting  forces, 
and  at  a  certain  point  of  its  orbit  (say  E)  to  receive  a  new 
impulse  in  the  direction  of  its  motion.  The  consequence 
would  be  to  change  its  orbit  from  a  circle  to  an  ellipse.  It 
would,  however,  return  to  the  place  where  the  additional  force 
was  given  ;  and  when  it  reached  that  point,  which  would  be 
the  perihelion  of  its  orbit,  suppose  it  to  receive  another  new 
impulse,  and  at  each  return  another.  The  effect  would  be 
to  make  it  revolve  in  orbits  more  and  more  eccentric,  until 
at  length  they  could  not  be  distinguished  from  what  the  math 
ematicians  call  a  parabola  —  a  curve  which  never  returns  into 
itself.  In  other  words,  the  earth  would  at  last  go  off  to  a 
returnless  distance,  or  beyond  the  control  of  the  centre 
around  which  it  had  revolved. 

Make  another  supposition.  Imagine  the  earth,  when  re 
volving  in  a  circle,  at  a  certain  point  of  its  orbit  (E,  Fig.  2) 
to  come  under  the  influence  of  an  impulsive  force  which,  like 
gravity,  shall  ever  afterwards  continue  to  act  upon  it.  The 
effects  will  be,  that  it  will  receive  a  constantly  increasing 
velocity,  and  consequently  will  be  continually  receding  farther 
and  farther  from  the  centre,  describing  a  sort  of  helix,  which 
never  returns  into  itself.  Thus  would  the  body  be  carried  an 
infinite  or  returnless  distance  from  the  centre. 

These  two  cases,  it  appears  to  me,  afford  a  good  illustra 
tion  of  professed  Christians  who  act  under  the  influence  of 
impulses  derived  neither  from  the  Bible  nor  the  Spirit  of 
God.  So  long  as  they  are  controlled  by  the  divine  Spirit,  or 
by  motives  derived  from  the  Bible,  they  will  move  around  the 

*  In  all  the  figures,  the  body  colored  yellow  represents  the  sun,  the  green 
one  the  earth,  and  the  red  one  the  moon. 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  259 

great  Centre  of  light  and  love  in  circular  paths  with  uniform 
motion  and  steady  light.  But  whenever  they  give  themselves 
up  to  other  impulses,  from  whatever  quarter,  they  are  sure  to 
be  carried  farther  and  farther  from  God  in  eccentric  paths  ; 
and  nothing  but  his  interposition  can  save  them  from  flying 
off  beyond  the  hope  of  return. 

Take  the  case  of  the  man  who  gives  himself  up  to  the 
influence  of  worldly  impulses.  Its  riches,  honors,  or  pleas 
ures  become  the  powerful  controllers  of  his  movements,  and 
urge  him  forward  with  a  constantly  accelerated  force.  Reli 
gion  has  not  lost  its  hold  upon  his  conscience  ;  and  he  still 
fancies  that  he  is  revolving  around  the  law  of  God,  as  the 
centre  of  attraction.  But  to  all  others  it  is  obvious  he  is 
flying  off  farther  and  farther  from  that  centre,  and  therefore 
getting  more  and  more  out  of  its  control.  Like  the  revolving 
earth,  when,  as  I  have  supposed,  it  receives  a  new  and  con 
stantly  accelerating  impulse,  the  path  of  this  Christian  con 
forms  less  and  less  to  the  divine  law ;  he  feels  less  and  less 
the  power  of  heavenly  things,  and  they  seem  more  distant. 
The  light  of  God's  countenance  becomes  fainter  and  feebler. 
Meanwhile  the  impelling  power,  the  love  of  the  world,  rapidly 
gains  strength  ;  and  in  a  little  time,  without  being  conscious 
of  it  himself,  and  unless  special,  marvellous,  I  had  almost  said 
miraculous  grace  bring  him  back,  he  will  become  a  wander 
ing  star,  to  wlwm  is  reserved  the  blackness  of  darkness 
forever. 

Or  take  the  case  of  the  Christian  controlled  and  impelled 
by  spiritual  pride.  Harmoniously  and  beautifully  did  he 
commence  his  revolutions  around  divine  love,  as  the  centre 
of  attraction,  and  with  a  sense  of  duty  to  impel  him  onward. 
But  he  chanced  to  discover  his  own  picture  in  the  glass  of 
vanity,  and  made  it  his  idol.  Spiritual  pride  came  in  at  once 


260      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

and  took  the  control  of  his  heart ;  and  now,  instead  of  wor 
shipping  God,  he  adores  his  own  exalted  piety.  Bigoted  and 
censorious  towards  others,  he  can  see  no  loveliness  in  their 
characters,  nor  tolerate  any  thing  that  does  not  conform  to 
his  own  selfish  standard.  While  he  boasts  of  his  religious 
enjoyment,  and  fancies  himself  living  near  to  God,  he  is  in 
fact  driven  so  far  from  God  that  it  would  be  strange  if  he 
should  ever  return. 

Next  comes  the  case  of  the  fanatic.  A  frenzied  zeal  took 
the  place,  in  his  heart,  of  that  charity  which  suffereth  long  and 
is  kind,  by  which  he  seemed  to  be  controlled  in  the  early  days 
of  his  religious  course.  That  zeal  did,  indeed,  greatly  quicken 
his  race,  but  it  was  only  to  drive  him  farther  from  the  true 
source  of  all  knowledge  and  light ;  and  away  he  went,  with 
lightning  speed,  into  the  region  of  ignes  fatui,  which  he  mis 
took  for  the  Sun  of  Righteousness ;  and  the  wild  dreams  of 
fancy  which  were  floating  in  that  limbo  he  mistook  for  new 
revelations  ;  and  the  sparks  of  his  own  kindling  he  took  to  be 
fire  from  heaven.  The  word  of  God  he  interpreted  by  im 
pulses,  instead  of  sound  learning,  which  he  regarded  as  a 
satanic  delusion.  Impelled  by  passion  himself,  he  strove  to 
urge  others  forward  by  the  same  blind  impulse  ;  and  reason 
in  religion  he  denounced  as  the  enemy  of  all  proper  zeal  in 
the  cause  of  God.  The  divine  prophecies  he  interpreted, 
too,  by  impressions,  and  made  up  for  deficiencies  by  inter 
larding  his  own  dreams  and  fancies.  With  him,  some  terri 
ble  event  —  the  downfall  of  an  empire,  the  devastations  of 
an  earthquake  or  a  volcano,  a  wasting  sickness,  the  second 
coming  of  Christ,  or  the  destruction  of  the  world  —  was  al 
ways  near  at  hand,  and  for  tho  best  of  reasons,  viz.,  his  own 
strong  impressions.  Such  a  man  as  this  often  shows,  never 
theless,  some  valuable  fragment  of  Christian  feeling  and  con- 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  261 

duct.  But  in  what  an  eccentric  orbit  does  he  revolve  !  His 
eccentricities  usually  become  greater  and  greater,  until  at  last 
he  flies  off  in  an  orbit  which  carries  him  entirely  out  of  the  re 
gions  of  common  sense  and  rational  religion  —  never  to  return. 
A  case,  however,  may  be  quoted  from  the  opposite  extreme. 
A  man  begins  his  religious  course  in  a  circular  orbit — that 
is,  there  is  a  proper  balance  in  his  mind  between  the  influences 
and  principles  that  form  a  religious  character.  He  bows 
down  to  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  and  receives  it  as  a  little 
child.  With  him,  it  is  evidence  enough  for  any  doctrine  or 
precept  if  he  can  be  assured  that  God  has  announced  it.  But 
at  length  his  heart  begins  to  be  less  interested  in  religious 
things,  and  a  spirit  of  speculation  and  scepticism  takes  pos 
session  of  his  mind,  and  becomes  a  new  and  mighty  impulsive 
power  which  carries  him  rapidly  away  from  the  quiet  path  in 
which  he  had  been  moving.  He  soon  finds  religion  to  be 
full  of  difficulties  which  he  cannot  solve.  Having  broken 
loose  from  his  former  principle,  that  he  would  implicitly  re 
ceive  whatever  statements  God  had  made,  and  which  formed 
his  sheet  anchor,  he  is  now  adrift  on  the  stormy  sea  of  spec 
ulation,  with  human  reasoning  only  for  his  compass.  One 
doctrine  after  another,  fairly  subjected,  as  he  fancies,  to  this 
ordeal,  and  found  wanting,  he  throws  overboard,  until  his 
creed  has  become  a  mere  wreck  of  old  opinions,  with  noth 
ing  in  their  place.  His  increasing  scepticism  calls  forth  the 
animadversions  of  his  Christian  brethren  ;  and  this  wakens  in 
him  a  pride  of  opinion  to  defend  his  new  views.  He  soon 
finds,  however,  that  the  full  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  stands 
in  his  way  ;  and  he  clearly  perceives  that  the  sacred  writers 
sometimes  reason  incorrectly,  and  therefore  they  sometimes 
reason  without  inspiration.  Thus  is  he  driven  farther  and 
farther  away  from  the  controlling  influence  of  the  Bible  by 


262      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

the  new  and  powerful  impulse  which  speculation  and  scepti 
cism  have  given  him  ;  and  the  more  the  Bible  and  its  doc 
trines  sink  in  his  estimation,  the  less  is  the  hold  of  practical 
religion  over  his  heart.  In  short,  his  path  is  becoming  wider 
and  wider  from  God  and  heaven,  and  of  course  their  power 
over  his  heart  and  conscience  is  less,  while  the  force  which 
urges  him  away  from  God  is  gathering  strength  ;  nor  can  we 
have  any  hope  but  in  the  all-powerful  grace  of  God  that  his 
wanderings  will  ever  cease. 

I  proceed  to  a  second  illustration,  which  may  be  derived 
from  the  relative  situation  and  mutual  attraction  of  the  sun, 
earth,  and  moon.  When  the  moon  is  exactly  between  the 
earth  and  sun,  it  is  obvious  that  it  will  be  attracted  in  opposite 
directions  by  these  bodies ;  and  it  is  only  because  it  is  so 
much  nearer  the  earth  than  the  sun,  that  it  is  not  at  once 
drawn  away  towards  the  latter  so  as  utterly  to  forsake  the 
former.  It  is  easy,  now,  to  conceive  that  it  might  be  re 
moved  so  near  to  the  sun,  (say  to  A,  Fig.  5,)  that  it  should 
henceforth  cease  to  be  governed  in  its  movements  by  the 
earth,  and  obey  only  the  attractive  influence  of  the  sun.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  might  be  brought  so  near  the  earth,  — 
certainly,  if  brought  in  contact  with  it,  (say  to  B,)  —  as  to  be 
governed  entirely  by  it,  and  no  longer  be  affected  by  the 
sun's  attraction,  except  as  constituting  a  part  of  the  earth. 

This  last  supposition  reminds  us  of  the  individual  who  has 
suffered  the  love  of  the  world  to  gain  so  strong  a  hold  upon 
him  that  he  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  influence  of  religion. 
He  cleaves  to  the  world  as  firmly  as  the  moon  would,  should 
she  fall  from  her  orbit.  Heaven,  with  all  its  glories,  exerts 
upon  him  apparently  no  power.  It  matters  not  that  all  in  the 
universe  which  is  pure,  and  noble,  and  truly  worthy  is  there 
assembled.  They  have  no  charms  for  him.  There  are  un- 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  2G3 

folded  in  infinite  splendor  the  glories  of  the  eternal  God  ;  and 
there  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  is  enthroned  the  chiefest 
among  ten  thousands,  and  altogether  lovely.  There  is  gath 
ered  in  sweet  communion  and  everlasting  love  the  countless 
throng  of  the  angels  of  light ;  and  as  they  take  up  their  golden 
harps,  the  whole  company  of  the  redeemed  from  earth  join 
in  the  sweet  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb.  It  is  the  New 
Jerusalem,  whose  foundations  are  precious  stones,  whose 
gates  are  pearls,  and  whose  pavements  are  gold;  the  city 
through  which  flows  the  river  of  the  water  of  life,  with  the 
tree  of  life  on  its  banks ;  the  city  whence  all  that  is  sinful  and 
all  that  is  mortal  is  forever  excluded  ;  the  city  where  every 
thing  grand,  and  beautiful,  and  attractive  to  a  pure  mind 
meets  together.  And  yet  this  man  can  look  with  stupid  un 
concern  upon  the  picture,  and  feel  not  one  desire  to  be  of  the 
number  who  are  admitted  to  its  joys.  Nay,  he  turns  away 
with  loathing  from  the  sight,  and  says  to  the  vanities  of  the 
world,  These  be  my  portion  —  these  the  objects  to  which  my 
heart  cleaves  with  fond  desire,  and  which  I  prefer  to  heaven. 
O,  is  it  not  a  contemptible  choice  for  an  immortal  soul,  made 
in  the  image  of  God  ?  And  yet  it  is  a  most  common  choice. 
All  around  us  we  see  multitudes  deliberately  preferring  earth 
to  heaven  —  a  world  of  change,  of  ignorance,  sin,  sickness, 
and  death,  to  a  world  where  all  is  permanent,  and  holy,  and 
happy. 

But,  blessed  be  the  power  of  God's  grace,  there  are 
some  who  have  given  up  their  hearts  to  the  full  influence  of 
that  glorious  world,  and  feel  from  day  to  day  its  mighty 
attractions.  Though  not  insensible  to  the  affairs  of  this  world, 
they  are  more  alive  to  that  which  is  unseen  and  eternal. 
They  have  learned  to  relish  the  employments,  as  well  as  the 
enjoyments,  of  heaven.  Often,  in  the  retirement  of  the  soul, 


264      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

and  away  from  the  sight  of  their  fellow-men,  do  they  hold 
communion  with  that  pure  world.  Not  with  their  mortal  eyes, 
but  with  the  eye  of  faith,  do  they  gaze  and  gaze  upon  its  un 
speakable  glories ;  and  the  ear  of  faith  listens  to  the  songs 
of  the  redeemed,  until  their  hearts  heave  with  strong  emotion, 
and  pant  after  God  as  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water 
brooks.  As  they  muse  the  fire  burns,  and  their  souls  are 
borne  away  by  a  strong  impulse  towards  the  celestial  city. 
In  short,  they  do  sometimes  approach  so  near  it,  and  drink 
so  deeply  into  its  glories,  that  their  souls  become  deeply 
imbued  with  its  spirit.  Now,  such  men  live  so  near  to  heaven 
that  their  conversation  is  there,  and  the  attractions  of  earth 
are  comparatively  feeble.  They  are  aptly  represented  by 
the  first  supposition  which  I  made,  wherein  the  moon  was 
imagined  to  be  removed  so  far  from  the  earth,  and  so  near 
to  the  sun,  that  the  attraction  of  the  earth  had  become  almost 
null  upon  it,  and  that  of  the  sun  almost  the  only  controlling 
force.  It  is  the  same  with  eminently  holy  men,  who  have 
long  been  disciplined  in  the  school  of  Christ.  They  have  in 
a  great  measure  got  the  victory  over  the  world,  and  heaven 
seems  to  them  not  a  distant  place,  but  near  at  hand.  They 
seem  to  stand  so  near  its  confines,  that  when  the  clouds  of 
doubt  and  unbelief  clear  away,  as  they  often  do,  and  the  Sun 
of  Righteousness  pours  down  his  bright  beams,  they  can  look 
across  the  dark  valley  between  the  two  worlds,  and  see  the 
sweet  flowers  of  the  world  beyond,  its  noble  rivers  and  plains, 
its  magnificent  mountains,  and  its  sunny  vales ;  and  this  world 
shrinks  into  insignificance  in  the.  comparison  ;  and,  like  Paul, 
they  cannot  but  feel  a  desire  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ. 
And  around  their  Saviour  they  see  the  bright  throng  which 
he  has  redeemed  by  his  blood,  and  made  them  kings  and 
priests  unto  God.  And  how  can  they  but  long  to  go  and 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  265 

join  that  happy  circle  !  —  a  circle  which  sin  can  never  pollute, 
nor  death  ever  break.  O,  what  a  happy  state  is  it,  thus  to 
live  under  the  full  influence  of  the  heavenly  world,  thus  to 
feel  its  strong  attractions,  thus  to  have  its  spirit  breathed 
into  our  souls,  and  thus,  as  it  were,  to  begin  its  songs  and  its 
joys  while  yet  on  earth  ! 

I  derive  my  third  illustration  from  the  manner  in  which  the 
earth  and  moon  perform  their  journey  together  around  the 
sun,  and  around  each  other.  This  is  not  generally  under 
stood.  We  know  that  the  moon  accompanies  the  earth  around 
the  sun,  and  we  see  it  every  month  complete  its  revolution 
around  the  earth.  We  are  hence  apt  to  infer  that  its  actual 
path  must  be  an  exceedingly  irregular  curve.  But  it  is  not  so. 
Excepting  some  very  slight  disturbances  of  its  motion,  which 
need  not  here  be  taken  into  the  account,  its  actual  path  in  the 
heavens  differs  very  slightly  from  that  which  the  earth  makes 
in  its  annual  revolution ;  that  is,  it  differs  very  little  from  a 
circle.  Indeed,  were  the  moon's  path  to  be  drawn  thirty  feet 
in  diameter,  it  would  require  a  practised  eye  to  distinguish  the 
curve  from  a  true  circle.  (Fig.  4  shows  the  paths  of  the 
earth  and  moon  for  one  month  ;  the  black  line  representing 
the  earth's  orbit,  and  the  red  one  the  moon's  path.) 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  moon,  as  well  as  the  earth,  obeys 
the  influence  of  the  sun  in  its  annual  revolution  ;  and  yet  it 
does  actually  move  round  the  earth,  and  perform  important 
service  for  its  inhabitants  every  month.  And  it  is  to  these 
two  facts  in  connection  that  I  wish  to  call  your  particular  at 
tention. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact,  that  the  most  eminently  holy  Chris 
tians  frequently  exhibit  a  very  strong  and  tender  affection  for 
their  families,  if  they  have  any,  or  for  their  friends  and  neigh 
bors,  and  manifest  a  deep  interest  in  secular  pursuits,  and  in 
23 


266       THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

the  welfare  of  the  community  and  country  in  which  they  live. 
And  it  has  often  been  inquired  how  such  deep  interest  in 
worldly  things  was  consistent  with  supreme  love  and  devotion 
to  God.  Indeed,  this  inquiry  has  often  distressed  the  Chris 
tian  himself,  and  he  has  feared  that  his  strong  attachment  to 
friends  and  neighbors,  and  his  lively  interest  in  worthy  objects 
of  a  worldly  kind,  were  unfavorable  indications  in  respect  to 
his  character  for  piety.  But  in  the  moon's  motion  behold  a 
solution  of  these  doubts  and  difficulties!  While  she  most 
faithfully  performs  her  duty  to  the  earth,  (if  I  may  be  allowed 
such  a  personification,)  she  is  not  for  a  moment  unmindful  of 
her  relation  to  the  great  centre  of  the  solar  system.  Looking 
to  her  fidelity  to  the  earth,  we  should  suppose  her  unmindful 
of  any  other  influence  ;  whereas,  in  fact,  she  is  every  mo 
ment  obedient  to  a  higher  attraction.  And  so  long  as  she 
obeys  that  higher  influence,  there  can  be  no  interference  be 
tween  the  two  movements.  Just  so  with  the  Christian.  So 
long  as  the  will  of  God  forms  the  great  controlling  central 
power  by  which  all  his  affections  and  conduct  are  regulated, 
—  so  long  as  every  minor  influence  which  the  world  exerts 
upon  him  is  kept  completely  within  the  control  of  that  higher 
influence  which  emanates  from  the  eternal  world,  —  he  need  not 
fear  any  interference  between  his  affection  to  his  family,  his 
friends,  and  his  country,  and  his  affection  for  God.  It  is  just 
as  consistent  for  him  to  yield  to  the  impulse  of  nature,  which 
prompts  him  to  love  and  serve  his  friends  and  his  country, 
while  at  the  same  time  he  loves  and  serves  God  supremely, 
as  it  is  for  the  moon  to  obey  the  influence  of  the  earth,  and 
constantly  to  revolve  around  it ;  while  at  the  same  time  she 
moves  in  a  still  wider  circle  around  the  sun,  and  is  perfectly 
controlled  by  that  great  centre.  Nay,  to  yield  up  the  heart 
to  divine  influence,  —  to  give  God  a  supreme  place  in  the  af- 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  267 

fections,  —  brings  into  the  heart  a  livelier  affection  for  man 
kind  than  nature  gives.  For  nature  would  limit  that  affection 
by  friends  and  by  country  :  but  supreme  love  to  God  rebukes 
such  selfishness,  and  bids  us  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves  ; 
and  then  informs  us  that  all  mankind  are  our  neighbors. 

O 

We  learn,  then,  that  the  Christian  need  not  fear  that  his  at 
tachment  to  friends  and  to  other  worldly  objects  is  improper, 
or  injurious,  so  long  as  it  does  not  interfere  with  his  love  and 
duty  to  God.  If  he  suffers  them  to  draw  off  his  affections 
from  God,  or  from  heaven,  as  his  final  home,  so  that  he  is 
turned  aside  from  the  path  of  duty,  then  indeed  they  become 
a  dangerous,  and  may  become  a  fatal  influence.  '  If  the  inter 
est  which  he  takes  in  his  friends  or  favorite  worldly  pursuits 
diminishes  his  interest  in  the  things  which  are  unseen  and 
eternal, —  if  their  society  draws  him  away  from  communion 
with  God  and  heavenly  things,  —  then,  indeed,  have  they  be 
come  the  controlling  power  of  his  heart  and  his  life;  and  if  the 
charm  be  not  broken,  he  will  be  driven  from  God  beyond  re 
covery.  But  no  man  need  fear,  when  he  finds  his  attachment 
to  his  friends,  or  country,  or  secular  pursuits,  increase,  pro 
vided  he  finds  a  correspondent  increase  of  interest  in  God  and 
eternal  things. 

To  introduce  my  fourth  illustration,  let  us  suppose  the  moon 
placed  directly  between  the  earth  and  the  sun,  while  between 
the  moon  (A)  and  the  sun  is  a  fourth  body,  (R,  Fig.  3,)  which 
repels  instead  of  attracting  the  moon.  The  consequence 
would  be,  that  the  latter  would  be  drawn  nearer  to  the  earth, 
and  therefore  be  more  attracted  by  that  body  ;  hence  it  would 
be  driven  farther  from  the  sun,  and  be  less  attracted  by  it, 
until  that  fourth  repellent  body  be  taken  away. 

It  is  true,  that  among  the  heavenly  bodies  we  know  of  none 
that  repels  the  others.  They  all  mutually  attract.  But  we 
know  that  on  earth  repulsion  is  one  of  the  great  regulating 


268      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

powers  of  nature,  as  in  electricity  and  magnetism.  It  cannot 
be  objectionable,  therefore,  to  suppose,  for  the  sake  of  illus 
trating  religious  truth,  a  repelling  body  situated  between  the 
moon  and  the  sun.* 

Between  the  Christian  and  heaven  there  is  also  an  object 
from  which  nature  shrinks  back  with  dread  and  aversion.  At 
one  time  his  imagination  pictures  it  as  a  dark  valley,  where 
no  ray  of  light  enters,  where  no  friendly  voice  is  heard  by 
the  lonely  passenger,  but  where  hideous  and  menacing  forms 
ambush  his  path.  At  another  time  his  fancy  paints  it  as  a 
deep  and  dismal  defile,  where  he  must  go  alone,  and  where  a 
hideous  monster  stands  in  panoply  complete,  to  dispute  his 
passage,  and  to  awaken  in  the  disembodied  spirit  indescriba 
ble  terrors.  In  short,  it  is  what  men  universally  call  death, 
and  from  which  nature,  almost  without  exception,  recoils  in 
dismay.  But  from  earth  to  heaven  there  is  no  passage  save 
through  that  region  of  terror.  Many  a  Christian  would  glad 
ly  leave  the  earth  and  go  to  possess  his  inheritance  in  the 
skies,  did  he  not  dread  a  boisterous  passage  through  that  un 
trodden  valley.  Nature  approaches  the  brink  of  the  preci 
pice,  and  strains  her  eye  to  penetrate  the  gloom  ;  but  she  can 
discern  only  the  swift  and  dark  waters  of  Jordan  rolling  by, 
and  the  unrelenting  countenance  of  the  King  of  Terrors,  with 
his  menacing  dart,  while  ever  and  anon  the  dying  agonies  of 
one  and  another  victim  assail  her  ear.  She  shudders  at  the 

prospect. 

"  The  pains,  the  groans,  the  dying  strife, 
Fright  our  approaching  souls  away ; 
Still  shrink  we  back  again  to  life, 
Fond  of  our  prison  and  our  clay." 

*  I  might  have  taken  stronger  ground.  Says  Professor  Loomis,  "The 
phenomena  exhibited  by  Halley's  comet  at  its  return  to  the  sun  in  1835,  re 
quire  us  to  admit  the  existence  of  repulsive  as  well  as  attractive  forces."  — 
Recent  Progress  of  Astronomy,  3d  edition,  p.  147- 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  269 

Some,  indeed,  through  fear  of  death,  are  all  their  lifetime 
subject  to  bondage.  Their  weak  and  disordered  nerves,  their 
morbid  and  excitable  fancies,  start  at  the  rustling  of  a  leaf. 
No  wonder,  then,  if  their  souls  are  overcome  when  they  think 
of  taking  a  last  look  upon  this  fair  world,  of  grasping  the 
hand  of  friendship  for  the  last  time,  and  of  taking  the  fearful 
plunge,  which  throws  them  at  once  into  the  hands  of  that  un 
sparing  conqueror,  whose  heart  never  yet  relented.  No  won 
der  that  they  cling  to  the  world  with  a  desperate  grasp,  and 
almost  cease  to  feel  the  attractions  of  heaven.  But  let  faith 
now  put  into  nature's  hand  her  magic  wand,  and  it  will  be  the 
traveller's  passport  through  the  dark  valley,  and  the  smitten 
waters  of  Jordan  shall  divide,  and  a  ray  from  heaven  come  in 
to  trace  out  his  pathway.  Let  the  Christian  endeavor,  while 
faith  is  in  lively  exercise,  to  render  death  familiar  by  frequent 
meditation,  and  he  will  find,  that  — 

"  Death  and  his  image,  rising  in  the  brain, 
Bear  faint  resemblance  — never  are  alike  ; 
Fear  shakes  the  pencil,  fancy  loves  excess, 
Dark  ignorance  is  lavish  of  her  shades, 
And  these  the  formidable  picture  draw." 

He  will  find  that  the  physical  pains  of  death  he  has  over 
rated,  and  that  often,  instead  of  an  unknown  dreaded  agony, 
it  is  the  sweet  and  quiet  termination  of  all  mortal  suffering. 
If  he  must  close  his  eyes  on  all  the  loved  objects  of  time  and 
sense,  it  is  only  to  open  them  upon  the  infinite  glories  of 
heaven.  If  beloved  earthly  friends  can  accompany  him  no 
farther  than  the  brink  of  the  dark  passage,  yet  friends  still 
more  beloved  —  his  God,  his  Saviour,  his  Sanctifier  —  stand 
on  the  other  side  with  arms  outstretched  to  receive  him.  Ah, 
yes,  it  is  the  same  Saviour  who  has  himself,  in  the  nature  and 
with  the  feelings  of  a  man,  passed  alone  through  that  gulf, 
23* 


270      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

and  across  that  turbid  stream,  and  to  his  fearful  followers  he 
cries,  O  Israel,  fear  not ;  for  I  have  redeemed  thee  ;  I  have 
called  thee  by  my  name.  When  thou  passeth  through  the  wa 
ters,  I  will  be  with  thee ;  and  through  the  rivers,  they  shall 
not  overflow  thee  :  when  thou  walkest  through  the  fre,  thou 
shall  not  be  burnt.  Death  shall  be  swallowed  up  in  victory. 
Jesus  Christ  hath,  indeed,  abolished  death,  and  brought  life 
and  immortality  to  light.  He  has  taken  away  the  sting  of 
death,  that  is,  unpardoned  sin.  The  monster's  spectre  indeed 
still  haunts  the  dark  valley  through  which  the  believer  must 
pass,  and  brandishes  his  broken  and  harmless  dart.  But  faith 
can  sing  the  conqueror's  song,  even  within  the  grasp  of  this 
once  terrific,  but  now  powerless  and  vanquished  foe. 

It  is  by  meditations  like  these  that  the  repulsive  power  of 
death  is  gradually  overcome,  and  the  timid  believer  begins 
again  to  feel  the  strong  attractions  of  the  heavenly  world. 
Nature,  indeed,  will  never  feel  a  complacency  in  death,  con 
sidered  by  itself ;  but  its  terrors  diminish  as  they  are  more 
closely  examined,  while  the  glories  that  lie  beyond  loom  up 
higher  and  brighter,  so  that,  to  use  the  language  of  an  eminent 
saint,  "the  river  of  death  appears  as  an  insignificant  rill, 
that  can  be  crossed  at  a  single  step,  whenever  God  gives  per 
mission."  As  it  muses,  the  soul  waxes  strong  in  the  Lord 
and  the  power  of  his  might,  and  with  holy  confidence  ex 
claims,  — 

One  hour,  and  the  dark  storm  goes  by  ; 

One  step,  and  on  the  heavenly  shore, 
I  stand  beneath  a  cloudless  sky, 

And  drink  in  joy  forevermore. 

My  fifth  and  last  illustration  supposes  the  moon  placed,  as 
before,  between  the  earth  and  the  sun.  But  in  addition  to 
this,  it  supposes  a  number  of  other  bodies  in  contact  with  the 
earth,  (as  Fig.  6,)  which  exercise  a  very  powerful  attraction 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  271 

upon  the  moon,  and  of  course  draw  it  more  or  less  away  from 
the  sun,  giving  to  the  earth  more,  and  to  the  sun  less,  influence 
over  its  motions. 

Imagine  now  that  these  bodies,  thus  surrounding  the  earth, 
should  quit  it  one  after  another,  and  pass  over  to  the  sun,  (as 
shown  on  Fig.  7,)  attaching  themselves  in  like  manner  to  his 
surface.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  such  a  transference  would  di 
minish  the  moon's  attraction  towards  the  earth,  and  increase 
its  attraction  towards  the  sun  ;  so  that  it  might  easily  be  made 
to  break  loose  entirely  from  the  former,  and  pass  towards,  if 
not  directly  into,  the  latter. 

The  objects  that  attract  the  Christian  to  this  world  are  often 
numerous  and  powerfully  attractive.  We  have  seen  that  he 
may  cherish  a  strong  attachment  to  worldly  and  worthy  ob 
jects,  if  the  love  of  God  so  reign  in  his  heart  as  to  bring  every 
thing  else  into  subordination.  We  have  seen  that  love  to  God 
sanctifies  and  ennobles  every  inferior  affection.  And  the  fact 
is,  that  no  class  of  men  exhibit  a  stronger  affection  for  every 
worthy  object  than  devoted  Christians. 

They  ardently  love  their  friends.  And  in  this  they  do 
but  follow  their  great  Exemplar.  Even  the  young  man,  who 
turned  away  sorrowful  from  the  exhortations  of  Jesus,  was 
still  loved  by  him  for  his  interesting  traits  of  character,  and 
by  the  tomb  of  Lazarus  the  Saviour  wept ;  so  that  the  Jews 
exclaimed,  Behold  how  he  loved  him.  He  did  not  love  any 
thing  in  his  friends  that  was  sinful :  neither  does  the  Christian. 
But  for  all  those  amiable  qualities  which  make  them  good 
members  of  society  he  does  love  them  ;  and  still  stronger  is 
that  affection,  if  he  witnesses  in  them  the  graces  of  true  re 
ligion.  For  he  regards  such  friendships  as  germs  which  will 
expand  and  ripen  in  heaven. 

The  Christian  also  loves  the  intercourse  of  his  fellow-men. 


272      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

His  religion  has  not  made  him  a  misanthrope,  nor  eradicated 
that  love  of  society  which  nature  has  implanted  in  every  bo 
som.  He  only  strives  to  correct  what  is  wrong,  and  elevate 
what  is  low,  in  social  intercourse ;  and  no  man  takes  a  deeper 
interest  than  he  in  whatever  promotes  the  general  welfare  of 
the  community. 

The  Christian  also  loves  his  country.  To  promote  her 
welfare,  to  defend  her  institutions,  to  preserve  her  liberties, 
and  to  eradicate  whatever  is  unjust,  cruel,  and  debasing,  he  is 
ready  to  make  any  sacrifices  consistent  with  his  duty  to  God. 

He  loves  science  and  literature.  To  cultivate  them  him 
self  he  knows  to  be  the  only  sure  way  of  giving  him  enlarged 
views  of  truth  and  duty,  and  he  knows,  too,  that  many  of  the 
principles  of  science  will  survive  the  ruin  of  this  world,  and 
become  a  part  of  the  science  of  heaven.  And  to  promote 
knowledge  in  others  he  knows  to  be  one  of  the  most  impor 
tant  means  of  the  promotion  of  religion,  and  of  saving  piety 
from  degenerating  into  frigid  scepticism  or  wild  fanaticism. 

The  Christian  loves  nature.  He  loves  it  most  because  it  is 
the  great  temple  of  Jehovah,  whose  lofty  columns  and  arches 
show  divine  wisdom  and  love  in  their  construction.  Wher 
ever  he  wanders  through  its  vast  galleries  and  labyrinths,  he 
hears  God's  voice  and  sees  his  hand  at  work.  Indeed,  all  na 
ture  is  but  one  vast  sounding  gallery,  echoing  and  reechoing 
with  Jehovah's  name  and  Jehovah's  praise.  He  loves  nature, 
too,  because  he  was  cradled  in  her  arms  and  nursed  on  her 
bosom,  and  her  sweet  voice  ever  touches  a  sympathetic  chord 
in  his  soul,  and  brings  out  the  sweetest  melody  to  which  earth 
ever  listens.  Every  thing  which  man's  harpy  fingers  have 
touched  bears  the  defilement  of  sin  ;  but  nature  is  untar 
nished,  and  her  virgin  robe  reminds  us  of  that  which  she 
wore  in  the  bowers  of  Eden.  And  therefore  does  the  Chris 
tian  love  nature. 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  273 

Such  are  the  objects  that  draw  the  Christian's  soul  to  this 
world  with  strong  attraction,  and  tend,  therefore,  to  weaken, 
or  to  make  less  sensible,  the  attractions  of  heaven.  But  as 
time  advances,  and  changes  come  over  him,  and  adversity 
shrouds  his  prospects  in  clouds  and  storms,  and  death's  ruth 
less  hand  tears  one  and  another  fond  object  away,  these  earth 
ly  ties  grow  weaker,  and  one  after  another  are  sundered  ; 
leaving  the  soul  to  be  more  easily  drawn  upward  towards  the 
world  of  cloudless  skies,  of  permanent  repose  —  the  great  at 
tracting  centre  of  the  universe. 

It  is  more  especially,  then,  to  the  case  of  the  advanced 
Christian  —  advanced  in  years  and  in  piety  —  that  my  illus 
tration  under  my  last  head  applies.  He  may  have  commenced 
his  religious  course  early,  and  have  become  convinced  even 
then  of  the  vanity  of  the  world.  But  after  all,  the  world  then 
appeared  to  him  in  a  far  more  fascinating  aspect  than  it  now 
does,  after  a  few  decades  of  years  have  taught  him  many  im 
pressive  lessons  of  its  emptiness.  It  then  lay  before  him  an 
untrodden  field,  glowing  with  the  charms  of  novelty,  and  as 
seen  through  the  prism  of  youthful  fancy,  decked  with  a  thou 
sand  rainbow  hues.  As  he  pressed  eagerly  on,  and  plucked 
from  time  to  time  the  golden  fruit  that  hung  temptingly  over 
his  path,  he  did  not  know  how  much  of  it  would  prove  like 
the  apples  of  Sodom. 

"  This  more  delusive,  not  the  touch,  but  taste, 
Deceived  :  he,  fondly  thinking  to  allay 
His  thirst  with  gust,  instead  of  fruit, 
Chewed  bitter  ashes  ;  which  the  offended  taste, 
With  sputtering  noise,  rejected." 

So  long  as  the  delusion  lasted,  the  young  Christian  felt  him 
self  strongly  drawn  towards  the  earth.  But  in  advanced  life 
he  has  been  so  often  deceived  by  its  fair  fruit,  and  drank  so 


274      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

often  of  its  bitter  waters,  that  he  no  longer  anticipates  a  ful 
filment  of  its  fair  promises  ;  and  though  he  has  enjoyed 
enough  to  make  him  very  thankful,  he  has  enjoyed  too  little 
to  make  him  desire  to  tread  the  same  path  over  again.  He 
has  learned  that  this  world  was  never  intended  to  afford  a 
pleasant  and  permanent  home,  but  only  comfortable  accom 
modations  for  a  journey.  He  has  ceased,  therefore,  to  feel 
the  strong  attraction  to  earth,  which  health,  and  hope,  and 
novelty,  and  youth,  threw  around  him  in  early  life.  Faith, 
and  hope,  and  desire,  now  reach  forward  towards  that  world 

Whose  fruits  and  streams 
Are  life  and  joy ;  where  day  eternal  shines  ; 
Where  love,  ineffable,  immortal,  reigns. 

One  of  the  objects  of  lawful  pursuit  by  the  Christian  is  the 
acquisition  of  wealth,  with  the  intention  of  using  it  for  worthy 
objects.  And  this  is  an  object  that  often  presents  a  fascinating 
aspect  to  the  youthful  mind,  and  becomes  one  of  the  strong 
cords  that  bind  him  to  the  world,  if  he  is  successful  in  the 
pursuit.  When  he  first  begins  to  recline  upon  the  downy 
couch  of  affluence,  and  fawning  friends  multiply,  and  the 
fashionable  world  condescends  to  smile  upon  him,  how  distant 
and  uninviting  appears  his  home  in  heaven,  and  how  terrible 
the  passage  thither !  He  can  enter  fully  into  the  meaning  of 
the  Son  of  Sirach,  when  he  says,  O  death,  how  bitter  is  the 
remembrance  of  thee  to  a  man  that  is  at  ease  in  his  posses 
sions  ;  unto  the  man  that  hath  prosperity  in  all  things,  and 
hath  nothing  to  vex  him.  But  it  will  not  be  long  before  this 
man  will  find,  that  as  he  sinks  deeper  and  deeper  into  his  bed 
of  down,  it  is  underlaid  by  a  bed  of  thorns.  He  will  find 
that  the  apostle  spoke  true  words  when  he  said,  They  that  will 
be  rich  fall  into  temptation  and  a  snare,  and  into  many 


ASTKONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  275 

foolish  and  hurtful  lusts,  which  drown  men  in  destruction 
and  perdition.  For  the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil ; 
which  while  some  coveted  after,  they  have  erred  from  the 
faith,  and  pierced  themselves  through  with  many  sorrows. 
If  God  means  to  save  this  man,  the  effect  of  his  experience 
will  be  to  teach  him  the  truth  of  these  things  in  season  to 
rescue  him  from  utter  ruin,  and  he  will  learn  henceforth  not 
to  trust  in  uncertain  riches.  The  strong  hold  which  they 
have  had  upon  his  heart  is  broken,  and  he  pants  after  the 
riches  of  paradise.  It  may  be,  too,  that  his  riches  take  to 
themselves  wings  and  fly  away,  and  want  succeeds  to  abun 
dance.  Then,  when  the  friends  of  his  sunny  days  forsake 
him,  and  the  world  leaves  him  alone  to  bear  the  iron  rule  of 
poverty,  O,  how  sweet  it  is  to  look  forward  to  his  treasure  in 
heaven,  where  moth  and  rust  do  not  corrupt,  and  where  thieves 
do  not  break  through  and  steal  ! 

•  Here  let  me  add,  that  want  and  destitution,  whether  they 
have  succeeded  to  competence  and  wealth,  or  have  been  the 
Christian's  companions  through  life,  are  among  the  most 
powerful  means  which  God  uses  to  make  heaven  sweet  and 
attractive.  And  it  is  in  advanced  life,  especially,  that  pover 
ty's  cold  skeleton  hand  seems  most  heavy  and  rigid.  The 
Christian  may  have  toiled  on  through  many  a  wearisome  year, 
unable  to  secure  even  a  competence ;  and  now  that  age  and 
infirmity  palsy  his  efforts,  still  must  he  labor  on  and  struggle 
harder  in  the  unequal  conflict.  With  what  a  strong  impulse 
will  his  heart  reach  out  after  an  inheritance  incorrupti 
ble,  undejiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  for  him 
in  heaven  !  How  often  has  the  widowed  mother,  toiling  at 
the  midnight  hour  over  her  unfinished  task,  and  unable  to 
provide  for  her  numerous  offspring,  felt  the  talismanic  power 
of  that  reserved  legacy  in  tho  skies !  How  often  has  the 


276      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

father's  heart,  fainting  under  his  vain  labors  to  satisfy  his 
children's  hunger,  wept  tears  of  gratitude  to  that  Saviour  who 
has  purchased  for  him  so  precious  a  boon ! 

Another  worldly  good,  which  may  have  been  with  the 
Christian  an  object  of  strong  desire  and  effort,  is  a  reputation 
for  learning  and  wisdom.  And  he  may  have  been  in  a  meas 
ure  successful.  But  God  usually  so  orders  events,  that  his 
honors  shall  sit  uneasily  upon  him,  and  prove  a  crown  of 
thorns  rather  than  of  flowers.  When  he  commenced  his 
career  of  learning,  those  who  had  already  climbed  up  the 
steep  and  difficult  way  cheered  him  with  encouraging  words, 
and  held  up  the  dazzling  crowns  which  they  had  won,  spar 
kling  with  jewels,  to  stimulate  his  zeal.  But  no  sooner  had 
he  reached  the  eminence  on  which  they  stood,  than  he  found 
them  equally  ready  to  pluck  off  his  laurels,  and  to  crowd  him 
back  again  into  a  humbler  sphere.  So  long  as  he  was  be 
neath  them,  they  were  overflowing  with  benevolence  and 
patronage.  But  to  have  the  ignorant  boy,  whom  they  had 
helped  out  of  the  mire  of  poverty  and  ignorance,  become 
their  peer,  —  nay,  rise  above  them,  and  seize  a  richer  crown 
than  theirs,  —  was  more  than  human  pride  could  brook.  So 
that  the  Christian  scholar  found  that  reputation  had  only 
brought  him  into  a  battle  field  with  powerful  and  implacable 
enemies.  In  his  path,  too,  he  often  found  coiled  up  the  viper 
envy,  charged  with  venom  ;  and  the  scorpion  hatred  often 
crept  under  his  pillow,  to  sting  him  in  an  unconscious  hour. 
In  his  own  heart,  also,  he  found  the  pride  of  science  choking 
the  growth  of  the  Christian  graces,  and  poisoning  the  springs 
of  religious  joy.  In  short,  a  few  years  of  such  experience 
taught  him  that  to  be  elevated  in  society  is  to  be  a  mark  for 
the  arrows  of  ignorance  and  sin ;  and  often,  too,  the  intelli 
gent  and  the  virtuous  will  interpose  no  shield  of  defence,  so 
that  you  are  left  alone,  with  little  power  to  do  good. 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  277 

"  Truths  would  you  teach  to  save  a  sinking  land, 
All  fear,  none  aid  you,  and  few  understand. 
Painful  preeminence  !  yourself  to  view 
Above  life's  follies,  and  its  comforts,  too." 

Progress  in  knowledge  will  also  give  a  man  many  a  forcible 
lesson  of  the  narrowness  and  imperfection  of  human  science, 
so  that  the  wisest  are  compelled  to  see  through  a  glass  darkly. 
Not  only  must  they  look  through  a  glass  which  refracts  the 
rays  and  colors  and  distorts  objects,  but  they  must  see  them 
darkly  or  obscurely. 

These  various  disheartening  circumstances,  with  which  the 
Christian  scholar  almost  always  meets,  more  or  less,  as  he 
advances  in  life,  do  not,  indeed,  wean  him  from  the  love  of 
science;  for  he  finds  in  its  pursuit  enjoyment  as  pure  and 
ennobling  as  any  thing  earthly  can  give.  But  they  do  tend 
to  rob  learning  and  distinction  among  men  of  much  of  the 
charm  with  which  they  are  invested  in  the  eyes  of  the  inex 
perienced.  They  do  weaken  science  and  reputation  in  their 
power  to  chain  the  Christian's  affections  to  this  world ;  and 
they  lead  him  to  look  with  strong  desire  and  lively  hope  to 
that  sweet  world  of  light  and  love  where  the  grossness  of 
sense  will  be  gone,  where  no  unholy  passions  will  mar  and 
pervert  the  truth,  and  where  its  rays  will  come  pure,  with  no 
intervening  prism  to  distort  them  from  their  original  source. 

Vigorous  health  is  one  of  the  strongest  bands  by  which  we 
are  fastened  to  this  world  ;  fof  it  is  that  which  gives  its  full 
relish  to  every  other  blessing,  and  without  which  they  would 
all  become  tasteless  or  disgusting.  The  man  who  enjoys  this 
health  has  only  an  indistinct  apprehension  of  his  liability  to 
death,  although  he  may  be  an  eminently  holy  man.  But 
advancing  age  brings  its  infirmities  and  pains  to  almost  every 
one  ;  and  to  many  it  brings  occasional  assaults  of  sickness  or 
24 


278      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

constant  feeble  health.  In  the  failing  appetite,  the  faltering 
step,  the  trembling  hand,  the  aching  head,  the  feverish  pulse, 
and  the  irritable  nerve,  they  have  constant  premonitions  of 
the  approach  of  dissolution.  They  perceive  within  them  a 
constant  struggle  between  life  and  death  —  the  latter  becom 
ing  stronger  and  stronger,  and  the  former  weaker  and  weak 
er  ;  and,  like  Job,  they  often  feel  as  if  they  were  a  burden 
to  themselves.  Life  loses  its  charms  because  it  cannot  be 
enjoyed ;  and  the  sombre  hue  of  melancholy  is  cast  over  all 
its  scenes.  But  they  know  that  there  is  a  world  where  the 
inhabitants  shall  not  say,  I  am  sick;  and  they  trust  it  will 
be  their  inheritance.  O,  with  what  earnest  desire  do  their 
thoughts  stretch  forward,  and  anticipate  the  time  when  they 
shall  enter  the  building  of  God  —  the  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens  !  Once,  in  the  buoyancy  of 
health  and  youth,  this  world  put  on  enchanting  smiles.  But 
now  the  dream  has  passed  by,  and  heaven  only  is  clothed 
with  beauty. 

But  even  though  the  constitution  may  long  hold  out,  and 
health  continue,  yet  advancing  years  bring  with  them  infirmity 
and  decay,  which  point  in  no  doubtful  manner  to  the  close  of 
life.  The  flattened  eye,  requiring  the  optician's  aid  ;  the  ear 
failing  in  its  sensibility  to  sound  ;  the  palate  losing  its  keen 
relish  of  savory  viands,  and  the  olfactories  of  sweet  odors  ; 
the  blood  coursing  sluggishly  along  the  veins  ;  the  brain  tor 
pid  and  heavy  in  its  movements ;  and  the  shrunk  muscle, 
easily  tired,  and  moving  heavily  the  failing  limb,  —  all,  all 
tell  the  traveller  that  he  has  almost  reached  the  end  of  his 
journey. 

"  Eheu,  fugaces,  Posthume,  Posthume, 
Labuntur  anni ;  nee  pietas  moram 
Rugis  et  instant!  senectae 
Afferret  indomitseque  morti." 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  279 

Nor  do  the  bodily  powers  alone  give  way.  The  mind,  too, 
dependent  on  bodily  organization  by  unalterable  laws  for  its 
free  exercise,  sympathizes  in  the  decline  of  the  physical 
powers.  The  proud  heights  which  she  once  scaled  can  no 
longer  be  reached  ;  the  heavy  blows  which  she  once  dealt  out 
can  no  longer  be  given.  She  may,  indeed,  say,  like  Sam 
son,  I  will  go  out,  as  at  other  times,  and  shake  myself ;  but 
she  will  find  that  the  lock  of  her  strength  has  been  shorn. 

"  Sic  fatus  senior,  telumque  imbtlle  sine  ictu, 
Conjecit." 

First  of  all  the  memory  feels  the  change,  and  reels,  and 
staggers,  and  sinks  under  her  charge.  Next  the  judgment 
begins  to  waver ;  and,  last  of  all,  the  imagination  comes  flut 
tering  to  the  earth.  O,  who  could  bear  thus  to  see  his 
immortal  mind  falling  into  ruins,  were  he  not  able  to  look 
forward  to  her  resurrection  in  a  spiritual  body  —  a  body  as 
incorruptible  and  immortal  as  the  soul  itself  ?  But  in  view 
of  that  renovation,  with  what  cheerfulness  can  the  Christian 
see  this  earthly  house  of  his  tabernacle  dissolve,  and  the 
powers  of  his  mind  give  way,  because  it  shows  him  how  soon 
they  will  be  delivered  from  their  prison  house  of  flesh  and 
sense,  and  henceforth  expatiate  and  exult  in  the  unshackled 
freedom  of  heaven  ! 

But  there  is  a  weight  more  heavy  than  flesh  and  blood 
which  drags  down  to  the  earth  the  Christian's  soul.  It  is  the 
burden  of  a  sinful  heart ;  and  the  longer  he  lives,  the  more 
oppressive  does  it  become,  and  the  more  deep  his  convictions 
that  he  shall  never  throw  it  off  till  his  spirit  escapes  from  its 
material  tenement.  But  the  oath  and  promise  of  God  assure 
him  that  he  shall  drop  this  body  of  death  when  he  passes 
over  Jordan  into  the  heavenly  Canaan.  That  deliverance  is 


280      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

the  strongest  desire  of  his  heart.  Even  though  he  may  fear 
to  die,  he  pants  for  that  emancipation ;  and  the  more,  as 
longer  experience  makes  sin  more  hateful,  and  his  own  sin- 
fulness  more  manifest  and  burdensome.  It  helps  reconcile 
him  to  death.  It  is  one  of  the  strongest  attractions  of  heaven 
that  no  sin  will  be  there. 

In  like  manner  does  the  wickedness  and  wretchedness  of 
this  alienated  world  weigh  more  and  more  heavily  upon  the 
Christian's  spirit,  and  make  heaven's  holiness  and  happiness 
seem  doubly  sweet.  He  sympathizes  with  the  feelings  of 

Cowper :  — 

"  My  ear 

Is  pained,  my  heart  is  sick,  with  ever)'  day's  report 
Of  wrong  and  outrage  with  which  earth  is  filled. 
There  is  no  flesh  in  man's  obdurate  heart ; 
It  doth  not  feel  for  man." 

Gladly  indeed  would  the  Christian  labor  as  long  as  God 
wills  to  bring  man  back  to  holiness  and  happiness  ;  but  how 
slight  an  impression  do  his  efforts  make,  and  the  efforts  of  the 
whole  Christian  church,  upon  the  mass  of  human  wickedness! 
And  how  can  he  but  feel  a  strong  desire  to  reach  that  happy 
shore,  and  that  glorious  community,  which  sin  has  never 
polluted  ! 

After  all,  the  strongest  ties  that  bind  us  to  this  world  are 
friendship  and  natural  affection.  How  many  tender  and  fond 
associations  cluster  around  the  names  of  father  and  mother, 
wife  and  children,  brother  and  sister,  friend  and  companion  ! 
Point  me  to  the  man  who  has  had  all  these  tender  relations 
sundered,  and  who  stands  on  earth  as  an  isolated  being,  and 
I  will  point  you  to  one  who  has  lost  all  sympathy  with  human 
kind,  and  would  gladly  depart  from  a  desolate  world.  Now, 
mark  the  wisdom  and  benevolence  of  God  in  respect  to  this 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  281 

subject.  In  the  first  place,  new  attachments  are  rarely  formed 
by  us,  of  much  strength,  in  advanced  life,  because  the  laws 
of  our  nature  forbid  it.  In  the  second  place,  God  removes 
the  Christian's  friends,  one  after  another,  as  he  can  bear  it ; 
so  that,  if  he  be  spared  to  advanced  life,  he  finds  himself 
almost  alone  on  earth,  with  but  few  ties  to  be  sundered  when 
his  turn  comes  to  depart.  How  full  of  benevolence  is  such 
a  dispensation !  Could  we  form  strong  attachments  in  riper 
years,  we  might,  even  at  the  last,  find  ourselves  so  fastened 
to  the  world  that  the  final  separation  would  be  full  of  anguish. 
But  now  he  cuts  one  earthly  tie  after  another ;  so  that,  when 
the  time  of  our  own  separation  comes,  this  world  has  almost 
lost  its  power  over  us,  and  the  few  remaining  cords  that  bind 
us  to  it  are  easily  sundered.  On  the  other  hand,  all  our 
departed  friends  have  gone  to  that  same  world  whither  we 
must  go ;  and  there  they  form  a  centre  of  attraction  of  strong 
power.  We  know  that  those  of  them  who  have  entered  the 
celestial  city  will  issue  from  its  portals,  and,  clothed  in  im 
mortal  beauty,  and  with  the  warm  and  holy  affection  of  glori 
fied  spirits,  will  welcome  us  to  our  everlasting  home.  O, 
what  mercy  is  here  !  Come,  thou  disconsolate  mourner, 
whose  heart  has  been  made  so  often  to  bleed  by  the  departure 
of  beloved  friends,  see  how  God  is  preparing  to  make  your 
own  departure  easy,  by  sundering  beforehand  the  ties  that 
bind  you  to  the  world,  and  gathering  your  friends  together 
in  the  great  centre  of  holiness  and  happiness,  to  draw  you 
thither  with  irresistible  force.  With  such  a  power  to  draw 
you  away,  and  with  so  feeble  a  force  to  retain  you,  how  slight 
will  be  the  final  pang!  how  triumphant  your  passage  through 
the  dominions  of  death  ! 

But  the  details  that  have  now  been  given  will  justify  a  more 
general  inference.     We  may  regard  the  astronomical  illus- 
24* 


282      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH 

tration  which  I  last  gave  (Fig.  6  and  7)  as  describing  a  gen 
eral  principle  of  the  divine  administration,  viz.,  that  a  leading 
object  of  God's  treatment  of  men  is  to  weaken  their  attach 
ment  to  this  world,  and  to  concentrate  in  heaven  an  attractive 
influence  of  overwhelming  power.  And,  really,  when  we 
consider  how  much  he  does  to  weaken  our  hold  upon  the 
world,  and  to  draw  us  towards  heaven,  instead  of  wondering 
that  a  few  Christians  are  willing  to  die,  we  ought  to  wonder 
that  any  of  them  are  willing  to  live.  This  was,  indeed,  the 
state  of  feeling  with  ancient  saints.  Their  grand  difficulty 
seemed  to  be  how  to  be  reconciled  to  life,  not  to  death.  This 
was  the  feeling  of  Job  when  he  said,  All  the  days  of  my  ap 
pointed  time  will  I  wait  till  my  change  come  —  as  if  he  had 
been  anxiously  looking  for  that  time.  This  was  the  feeling 
of  Jacob  when  he  exclaimed,  I  have  waited  for  thy  salvation, 

0  Lord.     And  such  eminently  was  the  feeling  of  Paul  when 
he  said,  I  have  a  desire  to  depart  and  ~be  with  Christ,  which 
is  letter    beyond    expression.      O,   what  a    mighty   impulse 
towards  heaven  reigned  in  the  apostle's  soul  !     He  longed  to 
leap  out  from   his   bondage  to  matter,  and  become  a  disin- 
thralled  spirit  before  the  throne.     Whenever  he  alludes  to  the 
subject,  his  soul  is  all  on  fire,  and  he  exclaims,  I  am  now 
ready  to  ~be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand. 

1  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have 
kept  the  faith.     Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown 
of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall 
give  me  at  that  day.     He  had  reached  that  lofty  point  of 
Christian  experience  when  only  a  single  tie  bound  him  to  the 
world,  and  that  was  a  sense  of  duty  to  his  brethren ;  and  this 
he  might  not  sunder  till  God  should  give   permission.     But 
all  the  other  objects  of  his  hope  and   desire  had  been  trans 
ferred  to  heaven,  and  there  formed  a  mighty  centre  of  attrac 
tion.     (See  the  representation  in  Fig.  7.) 


ASTRONOMICALLY    ILLUSTRATED.  283 

And  do  our  hearts,  my  brethren,  vibrate  in  sympathy  with 
that  of  the  apostle,  or  is  the  thought  of  departure  chilling  and 
agonizing  ?  It  is  not  strange  that  he  who  is  young  in  years 
and  in  Christian  experience,  to  whose  unpractised  eye  the 
world  spreads  out  so  many  fascinating  scenes,  should  find  his 
heart  shrinking  at  the  thought  of  death  ;  nor  that  he  who  is 
in  the  midst  of  business  and  usefulness,  basking  in  the  sun 
shine  of  public  favor,  and  linked  to  the  world  at  a  thousand 
points,  should  find  the  wrench  terrible  that  separates  him  at 
once  from  so  many  cherished  objects.  But  if  we  are  ad 
vanced  in  Christian  experience  and  in  years  ;  if  a  large  part 
of  the  objects  that  once  interested  us  have  either  ceased  to 
fascinate  or  have  been  transferred  to  the  eternal  world  ;  if 
increasing  infirmities  admonish  us  how  soon  the  soul's  mate 
rial  tenement  must  be  taken  down,  surely  we  ought  no  longer 
to  view  death  as  an  enemy,  but  as  a  friend  come  to  deliver 
us  from  sin  and  sorrow,  to  unbar  our  prison  doors,  knock  off 
our  fetters,  and  to  let  the  soul  go  out  to  breathe  henceforth 
the  vital  air  of  heaven.  No  Christian,  whatever  his  age  or 
condition,  ought  to  be  wholly  destitute  of  these  feelings.  But 
they  especially  become  him  who  has  long  been  in  the  school 
of  Christ.  He  is  in  the  condition  represented  by  my  last 
illustration  ;  and  his  soul  ought  to  swell  with  strong  emotion 
whenever  he  turns  his  eyes  towards  the  heavenly  world. 
There  are  collected  many  of  his  earthly  friends,  and  all  his 
heavenly  friends,  beckoning  to  him  to  come  to  their  sinless 
and  unchanging  home.  O,  what  a  group  of  beloved  objects 
are  congregated  there,  and  how  ought  we  to  look  upon  the 
day  of  death  as  the  time  of  coronation  and  victory ! 

"When  life  in  opening  burls  is  sweet, 
And  golden  hopes  the  spirit  greet, 
And  youth  prepares  his  joys  to  meet, 

Alas,  how  hard  it  is  to  die  ! 


284      THE  ATTRACTIONS  OF  HEAVEN  AND  EARTH. 

"  "When  scarce  is  seized  some  borrowed  prize, 
And  duties  press,  and  tender  ties 
Forbid  the  soul  from  earth  to  rise, 

How  awful  then  it  is  to  die  ! 

"  When,  one  by  one,  those  ties  are  torn, 
And  friend  from  friend  is  snatched  forlorn, 
And  man  is  left  alone  to  mourn, 

Ah,  then,  how  easy  'tis  to  die  ! 

"  "When  trembling  limbs  refuse  their  weight, 
And  films,  slow  gathering,  dim  the  sight, 
And  clouds  obscure  the  mental  light, 

'Tis  nature's  precious  boon  to  die. 

"  "When  faith  is  strong,  and  conscience  clear, 
And  words  of  peace  the  spirit  cheer, 
And  visioned  glories  half  appear, 

'Tfs  joy,  'tis  triumph,  then  to  die." 


MINERALOGICAL  ILLUSTRATIONS  OF 
CHARACTER. 


Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile.  —  John  i.  47. 

DECEIT  and  duplicity,  cunning,  craft,  and  artifice,  are  the 
characteristics  which  we  attach  to  guile.  The  man  under  its 
influence  does  not  exhibit  his  real  character,  but  assumes  a 
false  one,  to  accomplish  some  sinister  end. 

An  Israelite  indeed  —  such  as  Nathanael  was,  who  is  al 
luded  to  in  the  text  —  is  a  man  of  great  simplicity  and  purity 
of  character ;  one  who  fears  God,  and  endeavors  to  conform 
his  life  in  all  respects  to  the  precepts  of  the  gospel.  That 
trait,  which  is  here  described  as  a  freedom  from  guile,  I 
would  denominate  transparency  of  Christian  character.  Its 
opposite  we  might  call  opacity  of  character.  And  these 
terms  may  represent  the  extremes  of  good  and  bad  in  char 
acter. 

Those  conversant  with  the  science  of  mineralogy  will  per 
ceive  that  I  have  borrowed  these  terms  from  thence.  I  have 
conceived  the  idea  of  attempting  to  illustrate  the  subject  of 
character  by  the  facts  of  that  science  ;  not,  indeed,  because 
there  is  any  connection  between  mineralogy  and  Christian 
character,  excepting  that  what  is  true  literally  of  certain  min 
erals  is  true  figuratively  of  certain  characters.  Hence  the 

(285) 


286         MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER. 

minerals,  which  are  objects  of  sense,  may  be  employed  to  fix 
important  moral  principles  in  the  memory.  I  know  that  this 
mode  of  exhibiting  religious  truth  has  no  little  quaintness 
about  it.  But  if  it  convey  no  error,  and  makes  the  truth  more 
impressive,  perhaps  I  may  be  pardoned  for  employing  it; 
since  the  highest  use  to  which  we  can  put  science  is  to  make 
it  subservient  to  religion.  Nor,  if  we  avoid  the  extremes  of 
the  earlier  writers,  in  their  attempts  to  spiritualize  natural 
objects,  can  quaintness,  which  is  in  fact  often  only  a  high 
degree  of  originality,  be  considered  a  great  fault. 

Between  perfect  transparency  and  perfect  opacity  of  min 
erals,  as  well  as  of  character,  there  is  an  endless  variety  of 
intermediate  conditions.  There  are,  however,  certain  well- 
marked  stages  in  this  gradation  in  minerals,  which  well  sym 
bolize  certain  corresponding  grades  of  character.  I  propose 
to  describe  several  of  these  by  terms  derived  from  mineral 
ogy  ;  but  I  shall  confine  myself,  at  this  time,  to  what  are 
called  the  optical  characters  of  minerals,  that  is,  their  rela 
tions  to  light. 

1.  I  shall  first  describe  the  wholly  transparent  character. 

The  most  perfect  example  of  a  transparent  mineral  is,  one 
through  which  the  outlines  of  objects  may  be  seen,  and  not  be 
colored,  nor  their  position  changed.  We  have  fine  examples 
in  quartz  and  selenite. 

I  wish  I  could  say  that  the  entirely  transparent  character 
were  as  common  as  such  crystals.  But  it  appears,  now  and 
then,  pure  enough  at  least  to  be  entitled  to  the  commendation 
contained  in  the  proverb  — "  An  honest  man's  the  noblest 
work  of  God."  He  is  emphatically  the  work  of  God ;  not 
simply  as  to  the  creation  of  his  physical  nature,  but  more 
especially  as  to  the  new  creation  of  the  soul.  The  highest 
specimens  of  moral  purity  which  we  meet  among  men,  whom 


MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER.         287 

divine  grace  has  not  transformed,  will  not  come  up  to  the 
standard  of  Nathanael,  in  whom  was  no  guile.  Many  unre- 
newed  men  there  are  whose  characters  are  of  a  noble 
stamp,  but  the  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity  of  elevated  piety 
are  wanting. 

As  to  the  truly  transparent  Christian  character,  the  world 
stand  in  no  doubt,  though  guile  and  malevolence,  thereby 
severely  reproved,  sometimes  try  to  make  out  consummate 
hypocrisy,  where,  to  unjaundiced  eyes,  all  is  clear.  They 
know  what  such  a  man's  principles  are,  for  he  avows  them ; 
and  they  know  he  will  not  flinch  from  maintaining  them,  even 
though  all  others  desert  him  : 

"Among  the  faithless,  faithful  only  he." 

The  public  are  not  afraid  to  trust  such  a  man  with  their 
most  important  interests.  They  have  no  fears  of  chicanery 
and  trickery,  because  his  integrity  has  been  so  often  proved. 

All  this  -does  not  imply  that  the  man  of  perfect  transpar 
ency  of  character  should  disclose  all  his  plans  and  purposes 
to  the  world.  A  pure  homogeneous  crystal  does  not  show 
every  thing  that  it  contains.  Let  the  chemist  subject  it  to  the 
power  of  reagents,  and  he  will  show  that  it  is  composed  of 
several  elements,  whose  harmonious  and  perfect  combination, 
to  the  exclusion  of  foreign  impurities,  give  it  a  beautiful  trans 
parency.  So  there  may  be  plans  and  purposes  in  the  mind 
of  the  Christian  which  he  does  not  disclose  to  the  world, 
because  often  that  would  be  sure  to  defeat  them.  Indeed, 
every  man  who  means  to  be  useful  must  have  the  power  of 
keeping  out  of  sight  his  yet  unattempted  plans  df  usefulness  ; 
for  if  known  beforehand,  there  is  malignity  enough  in  a 
wicked  world  to  thwart  them,  and  their  disclosure  would  do 
nobody  any  good.  But  no  man,  who  means  to  keep  a  con- 


288         MINERALOG1CAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER. 

science  void  of  offence,  should  ever  form  any  plans  or  pur 
poses  which  he  is  not  willing  to  have  laid  open  to  the  universe 
at  any  moment ;  and  the  only  reason  why  he  does  not  expose 
them  should  be,  that  he  may  thereby  accomplish  more  for  the 
good  of  the  world.  Concealed  for  such  a  reason,  and  they 
do  not  disturb  the  clearness  and  beauty  of  his  character ;  but 
kept  out  of  sight  for  any  other  reason,  and  they  mar  his 
transparency. 

I  remark,  also,  that  objects  seen  through  the  most  perfectly 
transparent  crystal  do  not  appear  as  distinct  as  when  viewed 
through  a  vacuum,  or  the  air.  This  well  illustrates  the  im 
perfection  of  the  best  of  human  characters.  Divine  grace 
does  not  choose  to  make  them  absolutely  perfect  in  this  world. 
Perhaps  it  is  no  more  possible  that  a  descendant  of  Adam 
should  exhibit  perfection,  than  that  a  crystal,  formed  out  of 
mineral  matter,  should  transmit  light  without  intercepting 
some  of  its  rays.  It  remains  for  a  higher  state  of  existence 
to  bring  out  the  Christian  character  in  its  full  glory.  In  that 
city  whose  foundations  are  formed  of  the  choicest  gems,  a 
correspondent  beauty  and  perfection  will  be  developed  in  the 
Christian's  soul. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  of  transparent  crystals,  that  trans 
mit  only  white  light ;  and  these  I  have  made  the  emblem  of 
the  most  perfect  character.  But  the  light  is  sometimes  col 
ored  ;  it  may  be  deeply  so  ;  and  though  the  essential  transpar 
ency  remains,  objects  seen  through  the  crystal  will  be  also 
colored.  Examples  may  be  seen  in  amethyst,  rose  mica,  and 
red  rock  salt. 

This  fact  symbolizes  another  variety  of  character,  less  per 
fect  than  the  first,  yet  more  frequent.  It  is  not  very  uncom 
mon  to  meet  with  a  man  whose  character  in  the  main  belongs 
to  the  transparent  class,  yet  he  suffers  himself  to  be  swayed 


MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER.         289 

by  strong  prejudices,  and  these  color  every  object  at  which 
he  looks.  He  is  sincere  in  desiring  to  view  every  object  in 
its  true  light,  and  is  not  aware  that  his  eye  always  looks  upon 
colored  objects.  But  an  eagle-eyed  world  perceive  it,  and 
though  they  do  not  perhaps  doubt  his  honesty,  they  lose  their 
confidence  in  his  judgment. 

Another  Christian,  of  the  same  general  honesty  and  trans 
parency  of  character,  fixes  his  eyes  so  exclusively  upon  some 
particular  doctrines  or  duties,  that  they  give  a  coloring  to  all 
his  views.    He  over-estimates  their  importance,  and  they  injure 
the  symmetry  of  his  religious  character,  producing  as  much 
deviation  from  perfect  transparency  as  color  does  in  the  crystal. 
The  same  effect  is  sometimes  produced  upon  character  by 
long-continued  poor  health.     Some  diseases  do  actually  give 
an   unnatural   color  to   objects  seen   through  the  eye.     And 
there  are  jaundiced  minds,  as  well  as  jaundiced  eyes.     Nor 
can  the   man   avoid  viewing  the  world  with  a   morbid  and 
melancholy  hue  thrown  over  it,  when  the  nervous  system  is 
deranged,  any  more  than  a  yellow  tinge  can  be  removed  from 
external   objects,   when   the    eye  is   suffused   with   bile.     He 
whose  health  is  firm,  and  whose  mental  eye  is  clear,  smiles  at 
the  delusions  of  the   invalid,  and  takes  pride  in  his  superior 
philosophy  and  religion.     But  let  a  slight  shock  be  given  to 
his   nervous  system,  and   the   same   sombre   cloud  will  over 
shadow   him,  and   his   boasted   philosophy  and  religion  will 
succumb  to  a  deranged  sensorium. 

2.  I  shall  in  the  second  place  describe  the  hydrophanous 
character. 

Hydrophanous  minerals  are  such  as  are  not  transparent 
till  they  are  immersed  in  water,  when  they  become  so  ;  as  the 
hydrophane,  a  variety  of  opal. 

So  it  is  with  many  a  Christian.     Till  the  floods  of  adversity 
25 


290         MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER. 

have  been  poured  over  him,  his  character  appears  marred 
and  clouded  by  selfish  and  worldly  influences.  But  trials 
clear  away  the  obscurity,  and  give  distinctness  and  beauty  to 
his  piety.  It  is  necessary  often  that  the  waves  should  roll 
over  him  again  and  again,  before  his  soul  becomes  thoroughly 
permeated,  and  his  character  wholly  transparent.  But  if  God 
means  to  make  him  an  instrument  of  eminent  usefulness  on 
earth,  or  eminent  in  glory  in  heaven,  he  will  not  lift  him  out 
of  the  waters  till  the  work  has  been  thoroughly  accomplished. 

3.  The  third  character  I  would  symbolically  describe  is 
the  semi-transparent. 

Through  a  semi-transparent  or  sub-transparent  mineral 
objects  may  be  seen,  but  there  is  no  distinctness  of  outline, 
as  in  gypsum,  selenite,  and  quartz. 

The  semi-transparent  character  is  no  uncommon  one,  even 
among  professed  Christians.  Light  enough  is  transmitted 
from  such,  and  through  them,  to  lead  us,  in  the  exercise  of 
charity,  to  place  them  among  the  really  pious  ;  yet  every 
thing  about  them  is  indistinct  and  cloudy.  They  have  no 
clear  and  definite  ideas  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  sys 
tem,  and  there  is  a  correspondent  looseness  in  respect  to 
Christian  duties.  Their  religious  experience,  both  at  its  com 
mencement  and  subsequently,  has  no  strongly  marked  fea 
tures.  There  is  no  clear  line  of  demarcation  in  their  minds 
between  worldly  morality  and  Christian  ethics.  Hence  they 
conform  very  much  to  worldly  maxims  and  practices  ;  so 
much  so  as  to  raise  doubts  of  their  piety  in  the  minds  of 
many ;  and  yet  they  will  cordially  unite  in  every  good  work, 
and  thus  often  do  they  clear  their  characters  from  suspicion. 
There  is  so  much  of  flexibility  in  their  principles  and  charac 
ter,  that  you  cannot  tell  where  you  will  find  them  in  times 
when  decision  and  independence  are  needed.  In  short,  it 


MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER.         291 

seems  as  if  such  persons  were  aiming  to  secure  both  this 
world  and  the  next,  and  you  fear  that  they  may  lose  both. 

Semi-transparency  may  symbolize  a  character  still  more 
unlovely  and  repulsive.  The  very  mineral  I  have  taken  to 
illustrate  it  —  gypsum  —  was  used  under  the  name  of  phen- 
gites,  by  some  of  the  most  hateful  of  the  Roman  emperors  — 
Nero,  for  example  —  for  the  windows  of  their  palaces.  So 
nearly  transparent  was  it,  that  these  tyrants  could  look  out 
and  see  what  the  people  were  doing,  while  the  latter  could 
not  look  in  and  see  what  was  going  on  there.  And  this  is 
just  what  jealous  and  cruel  despots,  and  others  of  like  dispo 
sition,  desire.  Others  they  wish  to  scrutinize  with  eagles' 
eyes,  while  they  themselves  keep  in  the  dark,  and  from  thence 
give  the  assassin's  stab. 

4.  I  pass,  fourthly,  to  describe  the  translucent  character. 

Minerals  are  translucent  when  light  is  transmitted  through 
them,  but  objects  are  not  seen. 

There  are  two  varieties  of  translucency.  In  the  first,  light 
seems  to  penetrate  the  entire  mass,  but  not  enough  to  produce 
even  semi-transparency.  The  difficulty  seems  to  have  been, 
that  the  particles,  when  the  mineral  was  in  the  process  of 
formation,  were  not  thoroughly  dissolved,  and  therefore  could 
not  be  so  arranged  by  the  laws  of  crystallography  as  to 
allow  the  light  to  pass  freely  through.  And  yet  it  seems  as 
if  the  work  had  been  nearly  accomplished.  Examples  may 
be  seen  in  fibrous  gypsum  and  rose  quartz. 

This  mineral  aptly  represents  the  man  who  seems  to  stand 
about  upon  the  line  between  the  world  and  the  Christian. 
There  is  so  much  that  is  good,  both  in  his  principles  and  his 
practice,  that  you  are  disposed  at  times  to  class  him  with  the 
latter.  But  you  cannot  see  through  him,  and  there  is  too 
much  room  left  for  guile  and  artifice  to  hide  themselves,  and 


292         MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER. 

unexpectedly  to  develop  unlovely  traits  of  character,  so  that 
you  stand  in  doubt  of  him.  You  greatly  wish  that  divine 
grace  had  thoroughly  dissolved  native  selfishness  and  worldli- 
ness,  so  that  they  should  not  so  mar  and  mystify  the  whole 
character.  The  man  probably  considers  himself  a  Christian, 
and  possibly  he  is  so,  but  of  a  very  low  grade  of  piety. 
More  likely  he  has  only  been  convicted,  but  not  converted  ; 
and  great  is  the  danger,  if  that  be  the  case,  that  he  never 
will  be. 

Another  variety  of  mineral  exhibits  translucency  only  on 
its  edges.  The  central  mass  is  dark ;  but  holding  the  speci 
men  to  the  light,  and  light  is  transmitted  dimly  through  the 
thin  edges.  Marble  and  flint,  or  hornstone,  are  examples. 

In  these  specimens,  we  have  a  good  symbolization  of  the 
man,  who  has  been  brought  so  much  under  the  influence  of 
Christianity,  that  it  has  modified  his  external  conduct,  pro 
duced  some  regard  for  true  piety,  led  to  some  outward  refor 
mations,  and  caused  him  to  adopt  some  of  the  forms  of  reli 
gion.  Yet  the  darkness  of  unregeneracy  reigns  within.  The 
central  mass  of  character  has  never  been  permeated  by  the 
subduing  and  remodelling  power  of  divine  grace,  and  there 
fore  no  heavenly  light  can  pass  through.  Friends,  and  pos 
sibly  the  man  himself,  mistake  the  rays  that  struggle  through 
the  edges  of  his  character  for  genuine  Christian  experience. 
But  until  the  light  can  reach  the  soul's  centre,  if  guile  still 
reigns  there,  along  with  selfishness,  pride,  and  worldliness, 
external  translucency  can  avail  nothing  in  the  sight  of  God. 
Nothing  but  divine  alchemy  can  rearrange  and  transmute  the 
elements  of  character,  so  as  to  give  it  the  transparency  of 
true  religion. 

5.  My  ffth  symbolization  embraces  the  doubly  refracting 
character. 


MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER.          293 

A  doubly-refracting  crystal  is  transparent ;  but  it  gives  two 
images  of  objects  seen  through  it.  Ordinary  refraction  pro 
duces  one,  and  extraordinary  refraction  another,  by  splitting 
the  ray.  A  good  example  is  Iceland  spar,  or  calcite. 

Just  so  some  Christian  men,  apparently  without  guile,  and 
found  in  the  main  on  the  right  side,  do  sometimes  so  split  the 
rays  of  truth  as  to  give  a  false  image  of  things.  They  so 
speculate  and  philosophize  about  doctrines,  that  the  formula 
ries  they  present  have  the  aspect  of  heresy,  although  it  is  in 
fact  nothing  but  idiosyncrasy.  So,  in  regard  to  Christian 
duties,  there  is  often  some  extraordinary  refraction  which  gives 
those  duties  an  aspect  different  from  the  common  one.  The 
moral  reformations  and  Christian  enterprises  of  the  present 
age,  also,  seen  through  their  optics,  put  on  features  which  no 
other  eyes  can  see.  In  short,  there  are  peculiarities  in  their 
mental  or  moral  constitution  that  make  it  difficult  for  others 
to  act  or  think  in  concert  with  them.  The  truth  is,  the  leaven 
of  self-esteem  and  love  of  distinction  is  working  within  them, 
and  so  bends  the  ray  of  truth  that  a  false  image  is  formed, 
which  these  men  honestly  believe  to  be  the  true  one. 

6.  The  sixth  character  which  I  shall  describe  is  the  phos 
phorescent. 

Certain  minerals,  when  rubbed  against  each  other,  or  ex 
posed  to  a  considerable  degree  of  heat  or  to  the  light  of  the 
sun,  and  then  are  removed  to  a  dark  place,  will  emit  light  for 
some  time,  and  sometimes  beautifully,  although  previously 
opaque.  This  is  called  phosphorescence.  Examples  are 
quartz,  fluor  spar,  and  the  diamond. 

You  have  probably  anticipated  me  in  the  character  I  would 

symbolize    by  these  examples.      For    how  common  is  it  to 

meet  with  men  who  never  seem  to  feel  any  interest  in  any 

good  cause  till  they  are  brought  under  the  influence  of  others  ! 

25* 


294         MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER. 

They  have  an  excitable  temperament ;  and  if  others  go  before 
them,  and  call  after  them  to  follow,  they  begin  to  throw  off 
phosphorescent  sparks  ;  or  when  warmed  by  the  tongue  of 
eloquence  or  the  mesmeric  power  of  sympathy,  their  souls 
seem  to  be  permeated  by  a  phosphoric  glow  that  promises 
much.  But  as  the  light  of  the  phosphorescent  mineral  fades, 
and  soon  disappears,  when  the  extrinsic  heat  is  taken  away, 
and  daylight  is  let  in  upon  it,  so  do  the  ardor  and  zeal  of 
these  men  depart  when  foreign  stimulants  are  withdrawn,  and 
they  are  left  to  their  own  resources.  Their  benevolence, 
being  the  fruit  of  external  excitement,  and  having  nothing  to 
feed  it  within,  soon  dies  away,  and  leaves  the  man  as  unfeel 
ing,  as  narrow-minded,  and  as  selfish  as  ever. 

7.  My  seventh  symlolization  describes  the  dichroic  char 
acter. 

Dichroism  consists  in  a  mineral's  exhibiting  different  colors 
on  different  faces.  Thus  dichroite,  or  iolite,  is  often  deep 
blue  along  its  vertical  axis  ;  but  on  a  side  perpendicular  to 
this  axis  it  is  brownish  yellow.  Tne  phenomenon  results 
from  the  manner  in  which  the  particles  are  arranged  for 
reflecting  and  transmitting  light.  The  whole  internal  struc 
ture  must  be  changed  before  the  same  color  shall  be  presented 
on  all  the  faces. 

Moral  dichroism  consists  in  a  man's  being  Janus-faced  — 
that  is,  double-faced  both  in  his  principle  and  his  practice,  in 
order  to  secure  popular  favor  and  avoid  odium.  The  chame 
leon  is  said  to  have  the  power  of  assuming  the  color  of  the 
object  on  which  it  fastens  ;  so  this  man  means  to  conform  his 
creed  and  his  practice  to  those  which  are  most  popular  in  the 
community  where  he  happens  to  live  or  sojourn.  In  one  place, 
he  is  orthodox  ;  in  another,  heterodox  ;  —  in  one,  an  advo 
cate  for  temperance  ;  in  another,  loose  in  this  matter,  both  in 


MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER.          295 

theory  and  practice  ;  —  in  one  place,  proslavery  ;  in  another, 
antislavery.  His  moral  and  religious  principles  are  not  set 
tled,  or  rather  he  makes  them  bend  to  his  worldly  interest ; 
and  you  have  no  way  of  determining  where  to  find  him  in  any 
circumstances,  except  to  inquire  what  aspect  self-interest  will 
require  him  to  put  on.  Nor  will  it  ever  be  essentially  better 
until  divine  grace  shall  have  transformed  and  rearranged  the 
elements  of  his  character. 

8.  My  eighth  symbol  will  illustrate  a  chatoyant  char 
acter. 

A  chatoyant  mineral  exhibits  a  beautiful  play  of  prismatic 
colors  as  it  is  turned  around.  It  is  not  a  mere  surface  phe 
nomenon,  but  proceeds  from  the  internal  arrangement  of  the 
particles.  The  diamond  affords,  perhaps,  the  most  perfect 
example,  unless  it  be  the  precious  opal. 

Mineralogists  make  some  distinction  between  a  play  of 
colors  and  a  change  of  colors  in  crystals.  But  the  difference 
is  unimportant  in  the  point  of  view  in  which  I  am  looking  at 
the  subject ;  and  I  include  both  those  varieties  under  the  term 
chatoyant.  Hence  I  should  quote,  as  a  third  example,  Lab 
rador  feldspar,  or  labradorite,  which,  though  less  brilliant 
than  the  diamond,  has  the  advantage  of  presenting  a  much 
larger  surface,  glowii|g  with  prismatic  hues. 

I  regard  brilliancy  of  character  as  the  trait  most  aptly  rep 
resented  by  the  chatoyant  property  of  minerals.  I  moan 
chiefly  brilliancy  of  intellect.  This  may  be  conjoined  with 
humble  piety,  without  destroying  its  transparency  ;  and  the 
character  thus  formed  becomes  eminently  attractive,  and  is 
well  symbolized  by  the  diamond,  the  most  precious  and  per 
fect  of  all  minerals.  But  brilliancy  of  parts  is  quite  apt  to 
derogate  from  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  Christian  charac 
ter,  so  that  its  transparency  is  marred,  just  as  is  the  case  with 


296          MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER. 

the  opal  and  the  labradorite.  We  are  delighted  with  their 
splendor,  but  regret  that  we  cannot  see  through  them. 

9.  The  irised  or  pavonine  character  is  symbolized  by  my 
ninth  example. 

Irised  minerals  often  give  a  splendid  exhibition  of  most  of 
the  colors  of  the  spectrum  ;  but  it  is  produced  by  a  mere 
superficial  film,  while  all  beneath  is  opaque,  as  in  a  specimen 
of  anthracite  coal. 

The  pavonine  character,  so  called  from  its  resemblance  to 
the  feathers  of  the  peacock,  is  so  common  as  hardly  to  need 
a  particular  description.  It  is  the  man  who  has  a  strong  pas 
sion  for  outside  display,  but  has  no  corresponding  sterling 
qualities  within.  He  may  be  gaudy  as  the  peacock  without ; 
but  just  penetrate  beneath  the  thin  film  of  external  charac 
ter,  and  all  will  be  found  either  hollow  or  opaque  within. 
Frequently  the  interior  will  be  found  a  hiding  place  for  arti 
fice,  cunning,  and  duplicity,  and  always  for  vanity  and  self- 
conceit.  Such  a  character  is  frequently  a  rather  harmless 
one  —  not  so  much  from  a  want  of  disposition  as  from  a  want 
of  ability  to  do  much  mischief. 

There  are  some  minerals  —  mica,  for  instance  —  that  are 
essentially  transparent,  but  show  the  prismatic  colors  in  their 
interior.  This  is  called  iridescence  ;  but  it  differs  little  from 
the  irised  character,  which  is  limited  to  the  surface.  For  the 
interior  iridescence  proceeds  from  a  metallic  film  introduced 
into  some  crack  or  fissure,  producing  a  brilliant  tarnish  there 
of  the  same  nature  as  that  upon  the  irised  surface.  Exam 
ple,  iridescent  mica  or  quartz. 

The  iridescent  mineral  has  its  counterpart  among  men ; 
for  we  meet  with  not  a  few  excellent  Christian  men  who  show 
an  inordinate  fondness  for  external  display.  Costly  and  ele 
gant  dwellings  and  furniture,  elegant  horses  and  carriages, 


MIIN'ERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER.          297 

and  rich,  if  not  gaudy,  clothing,  they  do  not  regard  as  incon 
sistent  with  their  obligations  to  conform  to  the  precepts  and 
self-denial  of  their  Master.  But  this  passion  for  show  can  be 
regarded  only  as  a  flaw  in  their  character,  marring  its  trans 
parency  as  iridescence  does  the  pure  crystal. 

10.  My  tenth  and  last  example  describes  the  opaque  char 
acter. 

We  find  at  least  two  varieties  in  this  respect  among  miner 
als.  Some  crystals,  such  as  mica,  are  transparent  in  one 
direction  and  opaque  in  another. 

It  is  so  with  some  men.  In  a  Christian  land,  it  is  not  unu 
sual  to  meet  with  those  who  have  very  clear  views  of  the 
theory  of  religi6n,  both  doctrinal  and  practical,  and  you  expect 
to  find  their  hearts  and  lives  conformed  to  their  belief.  But 
the  moment  you  make  the  subject  personal,  you  perceive  that, 
the  opaque  side  of  their  character  is  turned  towards  you,  and 
all  is  repulsive  and  dark.  Christ  met  such  a  man  in  the  youth 
whom  he  loved,  and  who  had  kept  all  the  commandments 
from  his  earliest  days.  How  clear  did  his  creed  and  his 
character  seem  !  But  no  sooner  was  the  demand  made  for 
the  sacrifice  of  his  money  for  the  good  of  others,  than  the 
crystal  was  turned,  so  as  to  be  impervious  to  light.  Selfish 
ness  had  too  firm  a  hold  upon  the  heart  to  be  cast  out  even 
by  the  persuasive  voice  of  the  Son  of  God.  And  so  it  has 
ever  been,  and  is  now,  in  the  hearts  of  multitudes. 

Another  striking  exemplification  of  the  character  under 
consideration  is  seen  in  the  manner  in  which  many  men  treat 
some  of  the  important  moral  reformations  now  in  progress  — 
say  that  of  temperance.  Converse  with  them,  and  they  seem 
to  be  strenuous  advocates  of  the  cause ;  but  ask  them  to  co 
operate  with  you  in  plans  for  its  advancement,  and  you 
develop  a  secret  and  unexpected  hostility  to  the  work  in 


298          MINERALOGICAL  ^ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER. 

every  form.  Public  opinion  has  forced  them  to  profess 
friendship  for  it  in  general  terms  ;  but  when  they  are  driven 
to  the  wall,  and  compelled  to  act  one  way  or  the  other,  you 
find  out  that  the  cause  has  no  more  bitter 'enemies.  Their 
seeming  transparency  has  given  place  to  blank  opacity,  where 
guile,  and  duplicity,  and  self-indulgence  lie  coiled  up  together 
in  the  darkness  in  snaky  brotherhood. 

The  completely  opaque  mineral,  such  as  coal,  transmits  not 
one  ray  of  light,  and  all  within  is  of  course  entirely  con 
cealed.  It  fitly  represents  a  character  thoroughly  bad  within 
and  without.  The  only  thing  we  like  about  it  is,  that  there  is 
no  attempt  to  assume  a  borrowed  dress  in  order  to  conceal 
the  deformity  within.  The  principles  are  bati,  and  the  con 
duct  is  bad  ;  and  nothing  but  divine  grace  can  transform  the 
dark  and  shapeless  mass  into  order,  transparency,  and  beauty. 

I  might  go  on  to  multiply  symbolizations  of  character  from 
the  scientific  history  of  the  mineral  kingdom,  especially  were 
I  to  derive  my  illustrations  from  other  features  of  minerals 
bsides  the  optical.  But  I  have  probably  said  enough.  Yet  a 
few  closing  practical  remarks  will  not  be  inappropriate. 

1.  These  illustrations  may  suggest  to  us  some  salutary 
cautions  in  judging  of  character. 

Recollect  that  the  transparent  character  is  the  standard. 
Hence,  if  there  be  mystery  about  a  man  ;  if  he  is  jealous  of 
others,  yet  careful  to  hide  himself ;  if  his  virtues  are  cloudy 
and  indistinct ;  if  his  opinions  are  colored  by  prejudice  and 
passion  ;  if  he  is  trying  to  accomplish  certain  darling  worldly 
schemes,  which  depend  mainly  on  popular  favor ;  if  there  is 
more  about  him  of  cunning  plans  than  of  simple,  straight 
forward  integrity  ;  if  lie  assumes  different  aspects  in  different 
positions  ;  and,  especially,  if  he  attempts  to  conceal  his  prin 
ciples,  and  refuses  to  take  a  stand  on  the  side  of  virtue  and 


MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER.          299 

right,  and  truckles  and  panders  to  error  and  sin  in  high  places, 
—  then  I  would  say,  Be  careful  how  you  trust  such  a  man.  In 
short,  we  have  reason  to  fear  for  our  own  and  others'  char 
acters  just  in  proportion  to  our  departure  from  the  true,  trans 
parent  model  of  an  Israelite  indeed. 

2.  The  subject  affords  us  an  illustration  of  complete  Chris 
tian  sanctification. 

The  grace  of  God,  when  it  first  visited  the  Christian,  found 
his  character,  if  not  absolutely  opaque,  yet  so  much  so  that 
even  the  light  that  was  in  him  was  darkness.  That  grace 
sent  the  power  of  eternal  truth  into  the  chaos,  and  re 
arranged  the  purposes  and  the  affections,  and  made  the  soul 
capable  of  transmitting  more  or  less  of  uncolored  light,  so 
that  ever  since  the  false  colors  of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
adversary  have  been  disappearing.  But  it  is  not  till  perfect 
transparency  shall  be  produced,  and  guile,  with  its  train  of 
unholy  passions,  shall  have  disappeared,  that  the  believer  can 
enter  heaven.  O,  how  great  a  change  must  still  pass  upon 
most  of  us  who  profess  religion,  if  we  ever  reach  that  holy 
place  ! 

3.  Finally,  how  important  for  our  success  and  usefulness 
in  this  life  is  a  perfectly  guileless  character  ! 

Jesus  Christ  is  described  as  one  who  did  no  sin,  nor  was 
guile  found  in  his  mouth  —  as  if  that  was  the  crowning  excel 
lence  of  his  character.  Indeed,  an  honest  man  is  the  noblest 
work  of  God.  And  there  have  been  many  such  —  Israelites 
indeed,  in  whom  was  no  guile,  though  not  absolutely  free 
from  sin,  as  Christ  was.  Hours  would  be  requisite  merely  to 
mention  the  names  of  such,  whose  memory  the  church  holds 
dear ;  and  volumes  would  be  needed  to  describe  their  charac 
ters.  1  will  refer  to  only  two  examples,  and  that  briefly. 

It  is  probable  that  the  world  has  never  seen  such  an  ex- 


300          MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER. 

traordinary  instance  of  moral  influence  as  was  acquired  among 
all  classes  of  men  \>y  the  missionary  Swartz,  who  for  fifty 
years  preached  the  gospel  in  India.  He  lived  in  the  midst 
of  Englishmen,  Hindoos,  and  Mohammedans,  and  was  ex 
ceedingly  plain  and  faithful  to  them  all  in  his  preaching  and 
exhortations.  Yet  such  was  the  respect  for  him  manifested 
by  them  all,  that  even  in  the  bloody  wars  waged  among  them, 
all  parties  regarded  him  as  a  friend,  and  even  pagan  rajahs 
gave  orders  to  their  soldiers  not  to  interrupt  his  labors.  And 
often  was  property  intrusted  to  his  hands,  as  well  as  the  busi 
ness  of  pacificator ;  and  the  Rajah  of  Tanjore  committed  the 
education  of  his  son,  who  was  to  succeed  him,  to  Swartz. 
"  Combined  with  humility,"  says  his  biographer,  "  was  that 
singular  and  transparent  simplicity,  which  so  powerfully  rec 
ommended  him  to  men  of  every  rank  and  every  religion,  and 
which  was  the  grand  secret  of  his  unparalleled  influence  and 
success.  Can  we  wonder  that  one  so  pious,  humble,  upright, 
and  sincere  should  excite  the  veneration  and  conciliate  the 
confidence  of  all  around  him ;  that  Hindoo  princes,  observant 
and  acute,  should  cultivate  his  friendship,  invite  his  counsel, 
and  invoke  his  protection  ;  that  Mohammedan  tyrants,  subtle 
and  suspicious,  should  respect  his  integrity  and  accept  his 
mediation  ;  that  European  governors  and  officers,  civil  and 
military,  should  intrust  to  him  the  most  important  concerns, 
and  cooperate  with  him  in  all  his  plans ;  that  by  the  great 
body  of  the  people,  of  every  class,  he  should  be  revered, 
idolized,  and  obeyed  ?  " 

Another  example,  of  analogous  character,  was  the  confi 
dence  reposed  in  the  American  missionaries  on  Mount  Leb 
anon,  during  a  sanguinary  civil  war  between  the  Druzes 
and  Maronites  in  that  mountain,  in  1845.  Though  the  par 
ties  were  bigotedly  attached  to  their  own  corrupt  religions, 


MINERALOGICAL  .ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER.          301 

and  felt  no  sympathy  with  the  object  of  the  missionaries,  and 
though  under  the  influence  of  the  most  ferocious  hatred 
towards  each  other,  they  all  assured  the  missionaries  that 
their  lives  and  property  would  be  safe  in  the  midst  of  car 
nage,  conflagration,  and  death.  And  so  it  proved.  Nay,  in 
the  very  heat  of  the  conflict,  when  blood  flowed  like  water, 
they  requested  the  missionaries  to  act  as  mediators.  "  By  the 
blessing  of  God,"  say  the  missionaries,  "  we  secured  the  con 
fidence  of  both  parties  in  the  region  where  we  reside,  and 
were  assured  on  all  hands  that  we  had  nothing  to  fear,  who 
ever  should  prove  victorious.  And  when  the  wild  whirlwind 
of  war  actually  swept  over  Abeih,  we  not  only  remained  in 
entire  safety,  but  were  able  to  afford  shelter  to  multitudes  of 
the  unfortunate  ;  nor  was  the  sanctity  of  our  asylum  violated 
in  a  single  instance."  O,  what  a  mighty  power  there  is  in 
Christian  simplicity  and  integrity  ! 

Should  it  not,  then,  be  an  object  of  the  highest  ambition 
for  every  young  man,  especially,  to  establish  a  reputation  for 
a  guileless  character,  which  can  be  done  only  by  actually 
possessing  it  ?  Let  the  community  once  get  the  impression 
that  such  is  not  his  character ;  that,  instead  of  being  artless 
and  of  unswerving  integrity,  he  condescends  to  duplicity  and 
artifice,  and  to  partisan  jugglery,  to  carry  his  points,  and 
long  will  it  be  before  he  can  disabuse  the  public  mind  of  that 
impression,  and  recover  their  confidence.  Let  him,  then,  take 
care,  in  the  first  place,  early  to  acquire  this  brightest  jewel 
in  the  Christian's  crown,  and  then  secure  it  by  a  guileless  life  ; 
and  he  will  find  that  he  has  a  passport  to  usefulness  and 
honor  which  nothing  else  can  give.  Guile  may  sometimes, 
indeed,  carry  a  point,  and  gain  an  ephemeral  reputation  ;  but 
dreadful  will  be  the  reaction  when  the  truth  comes  out  —  so 
that  in  the  end  it  will  appear  that  honesty  is  always  the  best 
26 


302          MINERALOGICAL    ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    CHARACTER. 

policy.  God  grant  that  all  of  us  may  so  live,  that  when  we 
depart,  an  admiring  world  may  write  on  each  of  our  monu 
ments  the  inscription,  In  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity,  not 
with  fleshly  wisdom,  but  by  the  grace  of  God,  he  had  his 
conversation  in  the  world. 


THE  INSEPARABLE  TRIO. 


Blessed    is    the    nation  whose    God   is    the    Lord,   (Jehovah.)  —  Psalm 
xxxiii.  12. 

Therefore  my  people  are  gone  into  captivity,  because  they  hare  no  knowl 
edge.  —  Isaiah  v.  13. 

If  therefore  the  Son  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed.  —  John 
viii.  36. 

AN  important  reciprocal  influence  has  ever  been  admitted 
to  exist  between  religion,  education,  and  freedom  ;  but  their 
inseparable  connection  and  mutual  dependence  have  rarely 
been  maintained  or  demonstrated.  If  that  can  be  done,  the 
present  is  surely  an  appropriate  occasion  for  attempting  it. 
Such,  therefore,  is  the  theme  which  I  shall  present  to  this 
highly  respected  audience. 

The  position  taken  on  this  subject  is  this  :  — 

RELIGION,  EDUCATION,  AND  FREEDOM,  ARE   INSEPARABLE, 

AND    MUTUALLY    DEPENDENT. 

It  will  give,  perhaps,  a  clearer  idea  of  this  general  prop 
osition,  if  it  be  divided  and  illustrated. 

First,  then,  true  religion,  an  enlightened  system  of  educa 
tion,  and  genuine  freedom,  form  the  three  great  vital  centres 
of  the  social  system  ;  just  as  the  brain,  the  heart,  and  the 
lungs  are  the  centres  of  life  in  the  animal  system.  Nor  can 
you  separate  these  centres  from  one  another  in  the  one  case, 

(303) 


304  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

any  more  than  in  the  other,  without  destroying  them  all. 
Without  a  brain  to  give  sensibility  and  motion,  there  would  be 
no  beating  heart  or  heaving  lungs.  Without  a  heart  to  pro 
pel  the  blood  through  the  brain  and  the  lungs,  the  latter  would 
collapse,  and  the  former  would  be  paralyzed.  And  did  not 
the  lungs  oxygenate  and  purify  the  blood,  it  would  prove  a 
deadly  poison  to  the  brain  and  the  heart ;  and  no  vital  warmth 
would  be  imparted  to  the  frame.  So  in  the  social  system, 
were  there  no  religion  to  give  sensibility  to  our  relations  to 
God  and  our  fellow-men,  and  to  lead  us  to  act  from  higher 
motives  than  atheism  or  pantheism  could  inspire,  education, 
in  its  legitimate  and  liberal  meaning,  would  never  exist  ;  nor 
could  freedom  be  enjoyed  ;  since,  without  the  purifying  and 
elevating  influence  of  religion,  the  strong  would  oppress  the 
weak,  and  keep  them  in  hopeless  servitude.  So,  if  education 
were  stricken  from  the  social  system,  religion  would  degen 
erate  into  formalism,  or  fanaticism  ;  and  freedom  would  soon 
be  drowned  in  licentiousness,  or  crushed  by  an  iron  despot 
ism.  And  if  freedom  were  to  be  smothered,  religion  would 
lose  its  vitality,  and  become  a  mere  tool  of  ambition  ;  and  ed 
ucation  would  be  ostracized  as  a  dangerous  agent,  at  least  in 
the  hands  of  the  people  at  large. 

Secondly,  no  one  of  these  vital  centres  of  the  social  system 
can  be  in  health  and  vigorous  action,  if  the  rest  are  diseased 
or  palsied.  For  such  is  their  mutual  sympathy,  that  just  so 
far  as  one  is  defective,  or  its  vitality  lowered,  by  an  admix 
ture  of  erroneous  principles,  will  the  others  be  crippled  and 
benumbed.  In  the  animal  system,  if  disease  has  attacked  the 
brain,  we  expect,  not  only  that  the  mind  will  be  oppressed,  or 
act  irregularly  and  wildly,  but  that  the  lungs  and  the  heart 
will  partake  of  the  disordered  movement.  In  like  manner,  if 
disease  or  poison  be  operating  upon  the  heart,  or  the  lungs, 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  305 

we  cannot  depend  upon  the  healthy  action  of  the  brain  .and 
the  mind.  And  the  degree  of  irregularity  existing  in  one  of 
these  vital  organs  is  the  index  of  the  derangement  in  the 
others.  Just  so,  if  in  any  country  a  false  or  defective  sys 
tem  of  religion  prevails,  we  may  be  sure  to  find  correspond 
ing  deficiencies  and  errors  in  its  system  of  education  and  its 
principles  of  liberty.  In  like  manner,  if  we  find  its  inhabit 
ants  ignorant,  we  can  safely  infer,  that  its  religion  is  propor 
tionally  erroneous,  and  its  freedom  defective.  And  if  the 
liberties  of  a  country  have  been  usurped  by  the  despotism  of 
the  many,  or  of  the  few,  we  may  be  sure  that  in  the  same 
ratio,  its  religion  will  be  corrupt  and  its  plans  of  education 
imperfect. 

Such  is  rny  explication  and  elucidation  of  the  general  prin 
ciple  advanced.  I  may  seem  to  have  taken  strong  ground  ; 
but  I  trust  it  can  be  maintained  by  an  appeal  to  REASON,  to 
the  BIBLE,  and  to  EXPERIENCE.  I  proceed,  therefore,  to  de 
fend  my  position  by  evidence  drawn  from  these  three  sources. 

Preliminary  to  this  argument,  however,  let  me  say,  lest  my 
positions  should  be  misunderstood,  that  in  maintaining  the  in 
separable  connection  and  mutual  dependence  of  these  three 
pillars  of  a  nation's  glory  and  strength,  I  do  not  contend  that 
they  are  equally  important.  It  will  be  universally  admitted 
that  the  brain,  the  lungs,  and  the  heart  are  inseparably  con 
nected  and  mutually  dependent.  But  who  does  not  know  that 
the  brain  occupies  a  place,  and  executes  functions  in  the  sys 
tem,  of  preeminent  importance  ?  The  influence  that  em 
anates  from  it,  along  the  conducting  nerves,  causes  the  heart 
to  beat  and  the  lungs  to  heave  :  in  fact,  all  the  phenomena  of 
vitality  depend  upon  it ;  and  so,  in  the  present  world,  do  the 
far  more  wonderful  phenomena  of  intellect.  But  it  is  nev 
ertheless  true,  that  disordered  action  in  the  heart,  or  the  lungs, 


306  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

will  Impair  the  functions  of  the  brain  ;  so  that  we  infer  a  mu 
tual  dependence  ;  while  at  the  same  time  we  assign  the  high 
est  place,  and  by  far  the  most  commanding  influence,  to  the 
brain. 

In  like  manner,  in  the  social  system,  no  observing  and  rea 
sonable  man  will  hesitate  to  place  religion  at  the  head  of  all 
those  influences  by  which  the  public  good  is  promoted,  the 
national  character  formed, "and  its  destinies  shaped.  Moral 
obligation  is  the  only  power  that  can  give  genuine  life  and 
regulated  action  to  a  nation's  energies  ;  and  if  that  do  not 
send  its  galvanic  shocks  into  the  whole  system,  not  only  will 
education  and  freedom  fail  of  vitalization,  but  paralysis  will 
seize  upon  the  whole  body  politic  ;  —  except  that  occasionally 
a  convulsive  agony,  the  symptom  of  approaching  dissolution, 
may  rack  its  frame  and  distort  its  features.  Highest  and 
foremost,  therefore,  we  place  religion  among  the  influences 
that  determine  a  nation's  character ;  although  an  important 
reflex  influence  upon  religion,  from  education  and  freedom, 
must  be  admitted. 

It  may  be  desirable  to  state  another  preliminary  explana 
tion.  In  maintaining  the  mutual  dependence  of  these  three 
great  institutions  of  the  social  economy,  so  that  when  one 
fails  or  is  crippled,  the  others  suffer  the  same  fate,  it  should 
be  remembered  that  we  speak  of  the  community  as  a  whole, 
and  not  of  individual  exceptions.  For  such  exceptions  may 
exist,  of  a  striking  character.  The  prevalent  system  of  re 
ligion  may  be  very  corrupt,  and  yet  there  may  be  found 
bright  and  beautiful  examples  of  individual  piety.  So  there 
may  exist  many  splendid  examples  of  scholarship,  where  the 
masses  are  profoundly  ignorant.  And  even  under  the  gloomy 
sway  of  despotism,  individuals  may  be  found  enjoying  a  high 
degree  of  personal  independence.  But  single  exceptions  of 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  307 

this  sort  cannot  invalidate  conclusions  based  upon  tendencies 
and  results,  which  are  generally  the  same,  and  whose  failure 
is  only  as  one  to  a  thousand. 

But  what  do  we  mean  by  the  term  religion  ?  Simply,  I 
answer,  the  unadulterated  system  taught  in  the  Bible,  and 
illustrated  perfectly  in  the  life  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity, 
and  imperfectly,  yet  often  beautifully,  in  the  lives  of  those 
followers  of  Christ  who  have  been  eminent  for  their  self- 
denying  labors  and  vigorous  faith. 

And  what  do  we  mean  by  education  ?  Not  a  system  that 
provides  for  the  gigantic  scholarship  of  a  favored  few,  while 
the  many  are  left  under  the  cloud  of  ignorance  ;  but  a  sys 
tem  that  carries  the  torch  of  science  through  every  portion 
of  the  community,  offering  it  to  all  as  freely  as  the  daylight, 
and  opening  the  path  for  the  poorest  and  the  humblest  genius 
to  find  his  way  to  the  summit  of  Parnassus. 

And  what  do  we  mean  by  freedom  ?  Not  liberty  for  a 
few,  or  even  a  majority,  while  a  large  portion  of  the  commu 
nity  are  cut  off  from  its  blessings  ;  not  liberty  for  the  whole 
without  restraint  ;  not  that  reckless  liberty,  which  abolishes 
all  the  salutary  distinctions  of  society,  founded  on  talents, 
character,  and  office,  and  levels  every  thing  downwards,  till 
all  are  sunk  to  the  lowest  grade  ;  but  we  mean  such  a  degree 
of  chastened  liberty,  as  experience  has  shown  most  conducive 
to  individual  happiness  and  the  public  good. 

From  these  explanations  I  turn  now  to  the  evidence  of  the 
general  position,  that  religion,  education,  and  freedom,  are  in 
separable  and  mutually  dependent.  I  make  my  first  appeal 
to  REASON  ;  in  other  words,  to  the  NATURE  OF  THE  CASE. 
The  problem  is  this  :  knowing  the  character  of  man,  and  the 
nature  of  religion,  education,  and  freedom,  does  reason' alone, 
irrespective  of  Scripture  and  experience,  afford  a  presumption 


308  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

in  favor  of  the  proposition,  or  against  it?  Reasoning  a  priori, 
should  we  conclude  these  three  leading  institutions  of  the 
social  system  to  be  mutually  dependent,  and  so  connected 
that  diseased  action  in  one  shall  be  communicated  to  all  the 
rest  ? 

In  order  to  obtain  a  satisfactory  answer  to  these  inquiries, 
let  us  make  a  series  of  suppositions. 

Let  us,  in  the  first  place,  imagine  that  religion  is  stricken 
from  this  trio.  Can  education  and  freedom  long  survive  ? 

To  live  without  religion,  is  to  be  destitute  of  all  sense  of 
moral  obligation  to  God  or  our  fellow-men,  and  to  be  free 
from  all  influences  and  sanctions  drawn  from  a  future  state  of 
retribution.  In  such  circumstances  we  need  not  resort  to  any 
theological,  dogma  to  show  that  supreme  selfishness  would  be 
the  controlling  law  of  life,  and  consequently,  that  every  man 
would  strive  to  gain  as  much  power,  and  distinction,  and  prop 
erty  as  possible.  But  the  more  talented  and  discerning  few 
would  soon  discover,  that  in  proportion  as  the  mass  of  men 
were  enlightened  and  free,  would  be  the  difficulty  of  gratify 
ing  their  selfish  desires.  While,  therefore,  they  might  en 
courage  education  and  freedom  among  a  favored  few,  they 
would  try  to  keep  the  many  ignorant  and  in  servitude.  This 
is,  in  fact,  the  very  process  that  has  been  acted  over  a  thou 
sand  times  in  the  history  of  our  globe.  The  masses  must  be 
kept  ignorant  and  degraded,  or  the  few  cannot  monopolize 
the  power,  wealth,  and  influence,  which  selfish  nature  urges 
them  to  seek  after  with  irresistible  impulse.  To  root  out 
religion,  then,  is  to  aim  a  death  blow  at  education  and  free 
dom. 

Let  us  next  suppose  a  nation  to  be  blessed  with  religion 
and  freedom,  but  without  education.  Can  she  long  retain  the 
former  ? 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  309 

Although  the  great  principles  and  precepts  of  religion  are 
simple,  they  are  liable  to  be  misunderstood  and  misapplied, 
if  the  intellect  be  uncultivated.  Individuals  quite  ignorant 
may  become  devotedly  pious,  in  a  community  where  there 
are  intelligent  men  to  instruct  them.  But  if  the  vast  majority 
are  unlettered,  religion  will  almost  inevitably  lose  its  power 
beneath  a  multitude  of  external  ceremonies,  or  run  wild  with 
fanaticism.  For  these  extremes  are  more  fascinating  to  the 
ignorant  mind  than  the  unostentatious  piety  of  the  heart,  be 
cause  accompanied  by  more  external  glitter  and  noise.  Be 
sides,  it  is  much  easier  for  a  heart  in  love  with  sin  to  practise 
pompous  rites  and  ceremonies,  or  to  cry  out  with  Jehu,  Come 
and  see  my  zeal  for  the  Lord,  than  to  carry  on  a  daily  war 
fare  with  sin  within  and  without,  and  to  set  an  example  of 
charity,  humility,  and  self-sacrifice.  Hence  it  is,  that  in  an 
ignorant  community,  religion  never  fails  to  degenerate  into 
formalism  or  fanaticism  ;  and  not  unfrequently  the  two  have 
been  united. 

No  less  essential  is  intellectual  cultivation  to  the  support  of 
genuine  freedom.  Men  must  understand  its  principles,  or 
they  will  either  become  the  dupes,  and  ere  long  the  slaves,  of 
unprincipled  ambition,  or  they  will  mistake  licentiousness  for 
liberty,  and  soon  be  glad  to  take  refuge  in  the  despotism  of 
one  from  the  despotism  of  many. 

Imagine  next,  that  a  nation  is  blessed  with  religion  and  ed 
ucation,  but  has  lost  its  freedom.  Can  the  former  flourish 
under  an  arbitrary  government  ? 

Tyrants  are  usually  eagle-eyed  to  discover  any  influences 
that  are  hostile  to  their  usurped  prerogatives.  Now,  the  whole 
system  of  the  Bible  aims  a  fatal  blow  against  all  unrighteous 
authorityf  both  because  it  brings  all  men  on  a  level  before 
God,  and  because  it  shows  such  authority  to  be  hateful  in  his 


310  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

sight.  Hence  despotic  power  will  not  be  satisfied  till  it  has 
robbed  Christianity  of  its  vitality ;  and,  alas  !  it  has  usually 
found  a  venal  priesthood,  ready  to  perform  the  mummifying 
process. 

An  enlightened  system  of  public  education  is  almost  equally 
hostile  to  arbitrary  power  as  is  Christianity.  In  fact,  you 
cannot  enlighten  the  people,  generally,  without  teaching  them 
their  true  character,  and  showing  them  that  God  made  them 
to  be  free.  Either,  therefore,  the  power  of  the  tyrant  or  ed 
ucation  must  fall ;  and  the  same  agency  which  he  has  em 
ployed  to  embowel  Christianity  will  be  ready  to  obliterate  the 
primary  school,  and  petrify  the  college  and  the  university. 

These  suppositions  sustain,  I  trust,  the  first  part  of  the  gen 
eral  proposition,  that  religion,  education,  and  freedom  are  in 
separable.  But  the  second  part  maintains  that  there  is  such 
a  connection  and  sympathy  between  them,  that  to  mar  and 
deteriorate  one  is  to  impart  what  the  chemist  would  call  a 
catalytic  influence  to  all  the  rest,  whereby  they  shall  be  de 
graded  and  become  impure.  To  show  this  will  require  a 
parallel  series  of  suppositions ;  and  yet  by  an  appeal  to  his 
tory,  we  might  convert  these  assumptions  into  facts.  But  that 
belongs  to  my  third  argument. 

AVe  will  suppose  the,  religion  of  a  nation  to  become  cor 
rupt,  either  by  the  introduction  of  false  doctrines,  or  the  sub 
stitution  of  external  forms  for  the  piety  of  the  heart,  or  by  an 
amalgamation  with  the  world.  Now,  unadulterated  Chris 
tianity  is  a  stern  advocate  for  the  most  liberal  system  of  ed 
ucation  ;  both  because  it  courts  the  most  rigid  scrutiny,  and 
because,  without  intelligence  in  the  community,  its  plain  and 
honest  features  would  soon  be  buried,  and  its  vitality  smoth 
ered,  beneath  the  meretricious  ornaments  of  formalism,  or 
burned  over  and  blackened  by  the  fires  of  fanaticism.  But  a 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  311 

corrupt  system  of  religion  dreads  a  pure  system  of  education, 
lest  its  hypocrisy  should  be  detected.  It  knows  very  well  that 
education  must  be  so  modified  as  not  to  admit  of  freedom  of 
discussion  or  freedom  of  opinion  ;  and  that  the  great  body  of 
the  people  must  be  kept  in  comparative  ignorance,  or  they 
will  not  submit  to  the  trammels  of  a  perverted  Christianity. 
And,  therefore,  it  will  be  hostile  to  any  system  of  education 
that  is  not  clipped  and  moulded  to  conform  to  its  own  de 
graded  standard. 

Equally  jealous  of  freedom  you  will  find  every  false  sys 
tem  of  Christianity.  Religious  liberty,  especially,  cannot  be 
tolerated  ;  for,  in  such  a  case,  the  perversions  of  the  truth, 
made  by  an  unholy  priesthood,  or  designing  politicians,  would 
soon  be  exposed,  and  then  resisted.  Uncomplaining  conform 
ity  to  the  prevailing  system  is  the  imperious  demand  of  every 
corrupt  religion.  And  since  nearly  every  such  system  links 
itself  with  the  state,  it  can  enforce  conformity  ;  if  not,  at  this 
day,  by  swords  and  fagots,  yet  by  the  almost  equally  power 
ful  engines  of  governmental  favors  and  disabilities.  Hence, 
to  pervert  Christianity  is  to  put  a  muzzle  upon  the  mouth  of 
freedom. 

Suppose  a  defective  system  of  education  to  prevail  in  a 
country  ;  one,  for  example,  where  the  majority  of  the  people 
are  uninstructed,  and  only  the  wealthy  and  aristocratic  have 
access  to  the  fountains  of  knowledge.  The  most  inevitable 
result  would  be,  that  the  educated  few  would  encroach  upon 
the  rights  of  the  ignorant  many ;  while  the  cunning  priest 
would  easily  exalt  himself  above  all  that  is  called  God,  or 
that  is  worshipped  ;  so  that,  as  God,  he  should  sit  in  the 
temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God,  and  thus 
persuade  the  multitude  that  they  must  go  to  him  for  pardon 
and  life  eternal,  instead  of  Jehovah. 


312  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

Or  suppose  arbitrary  power  to  have  gained  the  ascendency, 
where  the  people  are  well  instructed,  and  pure  religion  pre 
vails.  In  such  a  case,  we  may  calculate  upon  one  of  two- 
results.  Either  religion  and  education  would  teach  the  people 
rebellion,  —  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  both  of  them  are 
decidedly  hostile  to  arbitrary  power,  —  or  the  usurpers  would 
contrive  to  infuse  a  narcotic  influence  into  the  pulpit,  to  close 
the  primary  school,  and  to  render  the  press  venal. 

From  the  known  selfish  and  ambitious  character  of  man, 
therefore,  and  the  admitted  sympathetic  influence  between 
religion,  education,  and  freedom,  does  not  reason  decide  that 
to  obliterate  one  is  to  destroy  the  rest  ?  and  to  corrupt  one  is 
to  sink  the  others  to  the  same  condition  ?  In  support  of  these 
positions,  I  make  my  second  appeal  to  the  Bible. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  the  grand  object 
of  the  Bible  is  to  instruct  us  in  religion  ;  and  no  other  sub 
jects  are  mentioned,  except  as  incidentally  connected  with 
this.  We  ought  not  to  expect,  therefore,  that  we  shall  find 
the  general  proposition  which  we  are  discussing,  stated  in  so 
many  words.  Its  leading  features,  however,  I  think  we  can 
find  asserted  and  defended,  directly  or  indirectly. 

The  Bible  shows  us,  for  instance,  how  indispensable  to  a 
nation's  happiness  and  glory  is  true  religion.  The  passage 
first  named  at  the  head  of  this  discourse  —  Happy  is  the  na 
tion  whose  God  is  the  Lord  —  is  an  example.  It  does  not 
say  that  such  would  be  the  effect  of  acknowledging  and  serv 
ing  any  other  God  except  Jehovah,  the  God  of  the  Jews ;  for 
so  he  is  called  in  the  original.  The  poet  would  make  no 
difference  between 

"  Jehovah,  Jove,  and  Lord." 

But  the  Bible  declares,  that  "  though  there  be  that  are  called 
gods,  whether  in  heaven  or  in  earth,  to  us  there  is  but  one 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  313 

God,  of  whom  are  all  things,  and  we  in  him,  and  one  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  are  all  things,  and  we  by  him."  It  is 
the  service  and  love  of  that  one  God  only,  through  that  one 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  can  render  a  nation  happy.  That 
God  declares  that  "  he  is  a  great  king  over  all  the  earth  ;  a 
governor  among  the  nations ;  "  and  he  challenges  their  love 
and  service.  "  Let  all  the  earth  fear  the  Lord  ;  let  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  world  stand  in  awe  of  him."  He  goes 
farther,  and  declares  the  consequence  of  disobedience.  "  At 
what  instant  I  shall  speak  concerning  a  nation,  and  concern 
ing  a  kingdom,  to  build  and  to  plant  it;  if  it  do  evil  in  my 
sight,  that  it  obey  not  my  voice,  then  I  will  repent  of  the  good 
wherewith  I  said  I  would  benefit  them.  If  they  will  not 
obey,  I  will  utterly  pluck  up  and  destroy  that  nation,"  saith 
the  Lord. 

Thus  does  the  Bible  represent  true  religion  as  preeminently 
important  to  a  nation's  happiness.  It  also  declares  knowledge 
to  be  essential  to  the  preservation  of  freedom  and  religion. 
The  second  text  named  at  the  head  of  this  discourse  teaches 
this,  at  least  in  part :  Therefore  my  people  are  gone  into 
captivity,  because  they  have  no  knowledge.  Here  the  loss  of 
liberty  is  ascribed  to  ignorance;  and  this,  as  we  have  seen, 
corresponds  with  reason,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  with  experi 
ence  also.  In  another  place,  it  is  said,  "  For  the  transgres 
sions  of  a  land,  many  are  the  princes  thereof,"  —  that  is, 
frequent  changes  and  revolutions  occur,  —  "  but  by  a  man  of 
understanding  and  knowledge,  the  state  thereof  shall  be  pro 
longed  ; "  that  is,  its  prosperity  shall  be  lengthened  out. 
Again,  it  is  said,  "  My  people  are  destroyed  for  lack  of 
knowledge  :  because  thou  hast  rejected  knowledge,  I  will  also 
reject  thce."  Again,  "  Wisdom  and  knowledge  shall  be  the 
stability  of  thy  times,  and  strength  of  salvation." 
27 


314  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

If  it  be  objected  that  the  term  knowledge,  in  the  Scriptures, 
usually  means  religious  knowledge,  and  therefore  does  not 
embrace  modern  science  and  literature,  whose  acquisition  is 
the  chief  thing  in  what  we  call  education,  it  may  be  an 
swered,  first,  that  the  term  knowledge,  in  such  texts  as  have 
just  been  quoted,  did  embrace  every  kind  of  intellectual  ac 
quisition  that  entered  into  the  Jewish  system  of  education  ; 
of  which,  however,  religion  constituted  nearly  the  whole. 
Again,  who  will  deny  that  the  religious  applications  of  mod 
ern  science  and  literature  constitute  their  most  important  use  ? 
Nay,  what  principle  of  science  (and  of  literature  We  may  say 
nearly  the  same)  does  not  afford  some  illustration  of  the 
divine  character  or  government,  or  of  man's  moral  relations, 
and  may  not,  therefore,  be  properly  called  a  religious  truth  ? 
Furthermore,  it  will  be  confessed,  that  the  moral  and  religious 
teachings  and  applications  of  modern  education  are  precisely 
the  principles  that  are  the  most  important  to  the  preservation 
of  a  nation's  freedom  and  happiness.  So  that  what  the  Bible 
says  of  the  bearings  of  knowledge  and  of  ignorance  upon  a 
nation's  destinies,  may  be  applied  to  the  most  valuable  and 
perfect  system  of  modern  education. 

But  the  Bible  proceeds  a  step  farther,  and  shows  us  what  is 
the  character  of  the  man  who  is  most  perfectly  fitted  to  the 
exercise  and  enjoyment  of  freedom.  This  is  pointed  out  in 
the  third  passage  prefixed  to  this  discourse  :  "  If,  therefore, 
the  Son  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed."  That 
is,  if  the  transforming  power  of  the  gospel  has  been  exerted 
upon  a  man,  so  that  he  has  become  free  from  the  power  of 
sin,  he  is  every  whit  free,  —  a  freeman  of  the  Lord,  —  fitted 
rightly  to  appreciate  and  become  a  champion  of  civil  liberty. 
The  Jews  resented  the  imputation  of  Christ  that  they  were 
not  free,  and  said,  "  We  be  Abraham's  seed,  and  were  never 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  315 

in  bondage  to  any  man  :  bow  sayest  thou,  Ye  shall  be  made 
free  ?  "  Jesus  answered  them,  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  Whosoever  committeth  sin  is  the  servant  of  sin."  Till 
that  chain  be  broken,  he  cannot  be  truly  free  ;  as  the  poet  has 
finely  expressed  it  — 

"  He  is  the  freeman  whom  the  truth  makes  free, 
And  all  are  slaves  besides." 

Finally,  in  the  organization  of  the  Christian  church,  as  ex 
hibited  in  the  Bible,  we  have  a  divine  testimony  to  the  inti 
mate  connection  between  Christianity,  freedom,  and  education. 
It  seems  difficult  to  read  the  inspired  history  of  the  establish 
ment  of  the  church  impartially,  without  coming  to  the  conclu 
sion  that  it  was  a  pure  democracy  —  or,  rather,  its  govern 
ment  seems  to  be  what  may  be  called  a  theocratic  democ 
racy  ;  by  which  I  mean  a  government  of  the  people  ;  and  yet 
they  are  governed  by  the  law  of  God,  and  their  administra 
tion  consists  mainly  in  carrying  out  the  divine  law.  Each 
church  consisted  of  brethren,  with  equal  rights.  They 
elected  their  own  pastor  and  deacons,  disciplined  their  own 
members,  settled  their  own  difficulties,  and  were  independent 
of  oiher  churches,  except  so  far  as  they  asked  for  advice. 
The  pastors,  too,  were  all  equal,  save  so  far  as  age,  talents,  or 
superior  piety,  gave  any  the  precedence.  I  do  not  say  that 
all  Christian  churches,  in  all  circumstances,  are  required  to  be 
organized  on  such  a  republican  model.  The  Jewish  church 
—  synonymous  with  the  Jewish  nation  —  was  a  theocracy  ; 
and  I  sincerely  respect  the  opinion  of  eminent  men,  who 
have  thought  the  diocesan  and  metropolitan  forms  of  church 
government  the  best  for  men  in  other  circumstances.  I  sin 
cerely  respect  that  opinion,  I  say,  so  long  as  they  base  it  upon 
expediency,  and  not  upon  the  Bible.  That  book  certainly 


316  THE    INSEPAKABLE    TRIO. 

describes  the  primitive  church,  established  by  Christ  and  his 
apostles,  as  an  institution  thoroughly  democratic  ;  and  is  not 
this  a  strong  testimony  in  favor  of  free  civil  governments  ? 
especially  when  they,  and  they  alone,  harmonize  with  the 
whole  spirit  of  Christianity,  which  regards  all  men  as  breth 
ren  of  a  common  Father.  Indeed,  though  the  Bible  directs 
Christians  to  obey  whatever  rulers  Providence  may  have 
placed  over  them,  so  long  as  they  are  tolerable,  yet  where  has 
it  given  a  testimony  in  favor  of  any  other  except  a  free  gov 
ernment  ? 

In  the  characteristics  both  of  the  members  and  the  minis 
ters  of  the  church,  which  the  Bible  has  given,  we  find  also  a 
testimony  in  favor  of  education,  as  essential  to  the  purity  of 
religion  and  freedom.  It  demands,  first  of  all,  an  intelligent 
and  rational  submission  of  intellect  and  heart  to  the  authority 
and  will  of  God  ;  and  then  it  directs  believers  to  "  prove  all 
things,  and  to  hold  fast  that  which  is  good  "  —  a  requisition 
impossible  to  a  mind  entirely  uneducated.  Then,  too,  if  we 
read  Paul's  descriptions  of  the  ministerial  character,  espe 
cially  in  his  Epistles  to  Timothy,  we  shall  see  a  demand  for  a 
very  thorough  mental  discipline.  Even  under  the  old  dispen 
sation,  it  was  said  that  "  the  priests'  lips  should  keep  knowl 
edge."  We  are  not,  then,  surprised  to  hear  Paul  exhorting 
Timothy  "  to  give  attendance  to  reading,"  as  well  as  to  "  ex 
hortation  and  doctrine  ;  "  also,  to  "  meditate  on  these  things, 
and  give  himself  wholly  to  them,  that  his  profiting  might 
appear  to  all,  and  that  he  might  make  full  proof  of  his  min 
istry."  Surely,  nothing  but  thorough  literary  discipline  could 
qualify  a  man  for  such  a  work.  Theology,  the  noblest  of  all 
sciences,  is  but  the  quintessence  of  them  all ;  and  he  only 
who  has  studied  them  can  extract  and  condense  it. 

Is  it  not  clear,  then,  that  the  Bible,  while   it  places  religion 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  317 

immeasurably  above  every  thing  else,  does  yet,  directly,  or 
by  fair  implication,  strongly  advocate  the  most  enlarged  sys 
tem  of  education,  and  the  purest  form  of  national  freedom  ? 
And  does  it  not  represent  the  absence,  or  defects,  of  the  two 
latter  to  be  fatal  or  injurious  to  the  former  ? 

But  I  make  my  third  appeal,  in  support  of  this  position,  to 
experience  —  by  which  I  mean  history.  And  here  the  diffi 
culty  is  not  to  find  appropriate  examples,  but  to  make  se 
lections. 

Let  us  first  look  at  some  examples  where  attempts  have 
been  made  to  sustain  one  or  more  of  the  institutions  under 
consideration,  while  the  rest  were  wanting. 

The  ancient  Jewish  state  was  an  example,  where  the  reli 
gious  system,  so  far  as  it  was  developed,  was  pure,  but  the 
education  was  defective.  Excepting  a  knowledge  of  their 
own  history  and  religion,  there  was  almost  nothing  that  could 
be  called  literature  or  science  ;  and  the  views  of  the  body  of 
the  people  were  very  narrow  and  bigoted.  Mark,  now,  some 
of  the  effects.  One  was,  that  in  spite  of  the  awakening 
power  of  a  miraculous  dispensation,  and  the  repeated  warn 
ings  of  Jehovah  himself,  and  their  strong  national  pride,  they 
were  almost  constantly  falling  into  the  idolatry  of  the  sur 
rounding  nations.  Another  was,  that  Jehovah  found  it  de 
sirable,  out  of  regard  to  what  the  Scriptures  call  the  "  hard 
ness  of  their  hearts,"  to  allow  certain  practices  among  them, 
which  most  enlightened  nations  shrink  from  ;  such  as  polyg 
amy,  slavery,  and  bloody  wars.  Another  effect  was,  that 
instead  of  allowing  them  freedom,  it  was  necessary  often  for 
Jehovah  not  only  to  suffer  them  to  have  kings,  but  such  kings 
"  as  would  chastise  them  with  whips  and  scorpions."  And 
notwithstanding  all  the  wisdom  of  Jehovah  in  managing  their 
national  affairs,  and  his  mercies,  judgments,  and  warnings,  at 
27* 


318  THE    INSEPARABLE    TEIO. 

the  time  of  Christ  they  had  become  a  province  of  the  Roman 
empire,  and  their  religion  had  degenerated  into  the  whited 
sepulchre  of  phariseeism,  or  the  yet  more  repulsive  carcass 
of  sadduceeism. 

Look  now  at  an  opposite  example,  in  the  effort  made  in 
France,  near  the  close  of  the  last  century,  to  establish  free 
dom  and  education  without  religion.  It  was  like  an  attempt 
to  erect  a  noble  edifice  without  any  foundation.  It  was 
worse ;  it  was  like  placing  such  an  edifice  upon  ground  that 
was  already  rocking  and  heaving  by  the  stifled  fires  of  a  ter 
rific  volcano.  The  fires  of  ferocious  passions,  fanned  into 
a  sevenfold  heat  by  the  sirocco  breath  of  atheism,  did  soon 
break  forth  beneath  that  temple  of  liberty,  and  it  was  blown 
to  atoms ;  while  streams  of  scorching  lava  were  belched  forth 
over  every  European  nation,  and  the  gloom  of  a  military  des 
potism  settled  down  upon  the  fairest  portion  of  the  globe,  the 
whole  forming  a  memento  of  the  terrible  retribution  that  fol 
lows  an  effort  to  dethrone  God  and  deify  human  reason. 

Another  fact  which  history  furnishes,  illustrative  of  this 
subject,  is  the  intimate  connection  that  has  ever  existed  be 
tween  despotism,  ignorance,  and  false  or  perverted  religion 
par  nolile  fratrum.  I  am  not  aware  of  a  single  excep 
tion,  in  the  whole  annals  of  our  world  ;  and  where  the  tyranny 
has  been  the  most  grinding,  the  religion  has  been  the  most 
corrupt,  and  the  ignorance  the  most  profound.  As  illustra 
tions  of  this  statement,  in  ancient  times,  memory  shows,  im 
printed  on  her  tablet,  Assyria  and  Media,  Persia  and  Egypt ; 
in  the  middle  ages,  almost  the  whole  of  Europe  ;  and  in 
modern  times,  nearly  all  of  Asia ;  over  whom  the  triple- 
headed  monster  above  named  is  seen  enthroned  in  gloomy 
sovereignty  —  a  snaky  Gorgon,  converting  every  thing  fair 
and  lovely  to  stone  by  his  hideous  aspect.  On  such  a  soil, 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  319 

true  religion,  or  popular  education,  or  true  freedom,  could  no 
more  flourish  than  the  palm  tree  on  the  glaciers  of  Spitz- 
bergen. 

It  will  doubtless  be  objected,  that  despotic  governments 
have  often  been  liberal  patrons  of  learning  and  of  art,  and 
that  countries  thus  governed  have  produced  many  splendid 
examples  of  genius  and  scholarship.  And  why  has  this  pat 
ronage  been  extended  ?  Because  such  governments  have 
learned  that  knowledge  is  power,  and  so  long  as  it  is  confined 
to  comparatively  few,  they  can  monopolize  it,  and  make  it 
instrumental  in  upholding  their  authority.  But  they  would 
not  dare  to  extend  its  blessings  to  the  community  at  large, 
because  their  power  would  be  apt  to  change  hands.  Accord 
ingly,  we  do  not  find  that  despotic  governments  encourage  or 
permit  the  great  body  of  their  subjects  to  seek  the  blessings 
of  an  enlightened  system  of  education  ;  or  if,  in  a  few  in 
stances,  they  have  made  education  somewhat  popular,  they 
have  found  themselves  compelled,  ere  long,  to  allow  more 
liberty  to  their  subjects. 

All  the  ancient  republics,  and  most  of  the  modern,  furnish 
us  with  examples  of  the  blighting  influence  of  false  religion 
upon  popular  education  and  freedom.  It  will  not  be  doubted 
that,  in  the  ancient  republics,  much  freedom  of  thought  and 
action  was  enjoyed  by  certain  classes;  and  we  know  that  lit 
erature  and  speculative  philosophy  were  carried  to  a  high 
degree  of  perfection,  and  that  the  fine  arts,  also,  were  most 
successfully  cultivated.  We  are  apt,  however,  to  be  dazzled 
and  deceived  by  the  splendor  of  those  literary  and  artistic 
productions  that  have  escaped  the  ravages  of  time,  and  are 
yet  the  models  of  style  and  taste.  We  need  to  ascertain  what 
was  the  character  of  the  freedom  enjoyed  in  those  republics, 
and  what  the  condition  of  the  mass  of  the  people.  Accord- 


320  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

ingly,  history  informs  us  that,  in  the  Athenian  and  Lacedae 
monian  states,  a  large  majority  were  slaves,  over  whom  their 
masters  exercised  the  power  of  life  and  death,  and  whom  they 
treated  with  the  most  inhuman  rigor.  Nay,  since  the  debtor 
became,  ipso  facto,  the  slave  of  the  creditor,  a  large  part  of 
those  nominally  free  were  in  fact  bondmen.  Those,  then, 
who  were  really  free,  constituted,  in  truth,  only  a  numerous 
nobility,  or  aristocracy  ;  so  that  the  government  was  really  an 
oligarchy.  The  military  spirit,  also,  controlled  and  moulded 
every  thing  else  ;  and  we  know  how,  in  Sparta,  it  obliterated 
the  domestic  relations,  justified  theft  and  deception,  and  sub 
stituted  an  iron-hearted  martial  law  for  the  tender  charities  of 
life.  If  the  fine  arts  were  cultivated  in  the  Grecian  states, 
yet  agriculture  and  commerce  were  neglected  and  despised. 

In  Rome  the  state  of  things  was  no  better.  There  you 
find  the  same  horrid  system  of  slavery  ;  the  same  right  of 
life  and  death  in  the  hands  of  the  father  and  the  master  over 
the  child  and  the  slave,  —  resulting  in  the  practice  of  infanti 
cide,  murder,  and  gladiatorial  combats.  There,  too,  the  patri 
cians  were  engaged  in  endless  contests  for  power  with  the 
plebeians ;  yet  all  united  in  submitting  to  the  severest  military 
discipline,  and,  while  professedly  free  themselves,  in  subject 
ing  all  other  nations  to  an  iron  yoke.  In  short,  while  you 
find  a  small  part  of  the  people  —  a  numerous  aristocracy  — 
boasting  of  freedom,  and  well  educated  for  the  times,  the 
great  mass  are  left  ignorant  and  in  servitude,  and  the  whole 
community  is  moulded  by  a  martial  code,  inflexible  and 
bloody,  which,  indeed,  nourished  some  of  the  sterner  virtues, 
but  stifled  the  tender  charities  of  life,  and,  while  it  guarded 
with  jealous  care  the  honor  and  liberties  of  the  state,  kept  a 
large  multitude  in  hopeless  servitude  at  home,  and  with  insa 
tiable  ambition  preyed  upon  surrounding  nations,  till  the  world 
and  the  Roman  empire  became  synonymous  terms. 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  321 

Suppose,  now,  any  one  of  the  systems  of  government  that 
were  adopted  by  these  ancient  republics,  with  its  military 
spirit,  its  slavery,  and  its  religion,  were  to  be  introduced  into 
New  England.  What  a  contrast  to  the  systems  of  govern 
ment,  religion,  education,  and  social  life,  which  now  exist 
among  us  !  Who  of  us  would  not  rather  choose  any  of  the 
monarchical,  nay,  even  of  the  despotic,  systems  of  civilized 
Europe  ? 

After  all,  however,  there  were  many  noble  hearts  in  those 
ancient  republics,  in  whom  the  true  spirit  of  freedom  glowed, 
and  who  did  all  they  could  to  impart  true  liberty  and  knowl 
edge  to  their  fellow-men.  What,  then,  were  the  causes  that 
counteracted  their  efforts,  and  rendered  it  impossible  for  a 
true  system  of  freedom,  or  of  education,  to  succeed  ;  which 
in  fact  marred  and  blackened  the  fair  countenance  of  liberty 
and  civilization  wi*h  some  of  the  most  hideous  features  of 
despotism  and  barbarism  ?  The  philosophical  historian  and 
politician  have  long  attempted  to  answer  these  inquiries  ;  and 
doubtless  some  of  the  causes  they  have  assigned  were  power 
fully  instrumental  of  such  results  :  but  they  seem  to  have 
overlooked  one  great  source  of  influence,  and  that  is,  reli 
gion.  They  speak,  indeed,  of  the  necessity  of  public  virtue 
to  the  purity  and  preservation  of  freedom  ;  but  they  seem  not 
to  realize  that  virtue  which  springs  not  from  religion  is  spu 
rious  and  ephemeral,  and  that  consequently,  if  the  religion  be 
false  or  corrupt,  the  virtue,  the  freedom,  and  education  will 
be  proportionably  defective.  True,  the  polytheism  of  Greece 
and  Rome  was  the  least  offensive  heathenism,  modified  as  it 
was  by  philosophy  and  poetry,  which  the  world  ever  saw. 
Still  it  was  false  enough,  and  pernicious  enough,  to  permit 
opinions  and  practices  inconsistent  with  genuine  freedom  and 
popular  education. 


322  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

Were  there  time,  it  would  be  easy  to  point  out  similar  cor 
rupting  and  paralyzing  influences,  emanating  from  perverted 
systems  of  religion,  upon  most  modern  republics.  But  this 
would  require  too  much  of  detail  for  the  present  occasion. 

The  history  of  the  efforts  made  to  establish  free  govern 
ments  in  South  America,  and  in  Mexico,  strikingly  illustrates 
and  confirms  the  position  taken  in  this  discourse.  The  people 
there  doubtless  wonder  why  their  exertions  to  build  up  free 
institutions  have  produced  only  a  succession  of  civil  wars, 
with  short  intervals  of  military  despotism.  But  when  we 
learn  the  intolerant  character  of  their  religion,  we  wonder  not 
at  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  people,  nor  that  they 
cannot  be  governed  by  any  thing  save  despotic  power.  To 
expect  freedom  with  such  a  religion,  and  such  ignorance,  is 
like  looking  for  grapes  upon  thorns,  and  figs  upon  thistles. 

Another  historic  fact,  illustrative  of  this  argument,  is,  that 
a  state  religion  has  always  exerted  an  unfavorable  influence 
upon  popular  education  and  civil  and  religious  liberty.  The 
mere  existence  of  a  state  religion,  indeed,  puts  an  end  to 
religious  freedom,  by  the  bestowment  of  governmental  pat 
ronage  upon  one  denomination,  and  thus  leaving  the  others, 
at  the  best,  to  exist  by  mere  sufferance.  Despotism  has  al 
ways  found  religion  a  most  convenient  instrument  for  riveting 
its  chains  upon  the  people.  The  state  first  embraces  religion, 
as  if  for  protection,  but  soon  throttles  it,  and  then  uses  its 
lifeless  form  as  a  speaking  trumpet,  through  which  is  pro 
claimed  the  divine  right  of  kings,  the  duty  of  unreserved 
submission  to  their  authority,  and  other  anti-republican  dog 
mas.  Witness  Turkey,  Italy,  Russia,  and  Austria ;  and,  I 
might  add,  almost  every  Asiatic  kingdom.  There  you  see  the 
perfected  freit  of  a  union  of  church  and  state,  in  the  almost 
total  ignorance,  degradation,  and  servitude,  of  the  people.  In 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  323 

some  milder  governments,  however,  as  Great  Britain,  and 
Prussia,  and  other  German  states,  the  attempt  has  been  made 
to  combine  state  religion  with  the  education  of  the  people  at 
large  ;  and  Prussia  especially  presents  us  with  a  model  sys 
tem,  so  far  as  the  mode  of  instruction  is  concerned.  But  the 
government  directs  what  shall  be  taught  the  people,  and  takes 
special  care  that  monarchical  principles  and  war  doctrines 
shall  be  instilled.  And  since  every  educated  man  depends 
upon  the  government  for  a  place,  either  in  the  state,  the  army, 
or  the  church,  very  little  of  true  freedom  of  opinion  can  be 
enjoyed.  Nor  will  a  New  England  man  think  very  highly 
of  the  system  of  popular  education  in  Great  Britain  —  Scot 
land  excepted  —  when  he  learns  that  of  the  sixteen  millions 
of  England  and  Wales,  nearly  half  cannot  write  their  names, 
and  nearly  one  third  cannot  read  their  mother  tongue.  Surely 
there  must  be  some  powerful  obstacle  to  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge  in  such  a  country  ;  but  a  state  religion  and  a  sys 
tem  of  aristocracy  explain  it  all.  Of  alt  monarchical  coun 
tries,  however,  Great  Britain  possesses  the  most  freedom,  the 
most  intelligence,  and  the  most  true  religion  ;  and  would  she 
divorce  church  and  state,  almost  the  last  incubus  would  be 
removed  from  her  prosperity  and  happiness. 

But  arbitrary  governments,  especially  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  are  beginning  to  learn  that  to  instruct  the  people  at 
large  is  a  hazardous  experiment,  even  though  the  system  of 
instruction  be  carefully  adapted  to  the  support  of  their  power 
and  the  state  religion.  For  if  you  once  put  the  human 
mind  upon  thinking,  it  will  not  always  stop  where  you  would 
have  it.  And  in  the  countries  referred  to  the  people  are 
demanding  at  least  the  right  of  popular  representation  in  the 
government ;  and  though  cannon  and  bayonets  may  for  a  time 
stifle  this  demand,  it  will  soon  gather  explosive  force  enough, 


324  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

if  not  regarded,  to  rend  the  throne  to  atoms.  The  rocking 
thrones  of  continental  Europe  clearly  evince  that  education 
is  in  advance  of  liberty  and  religion.  But  the  reciprocal 
influence  that  exists  between  them  will  ere  long  bring  them 
upon  a  level  —  by  elevating  the  two  latter,  as  we  may  hope, 
and  not  by  sinking  the  former. 

History  furnishes  another  support  to  this  argument  in  the 
fact  that  the  countries  most  distinguished  for  freedom  and 
general  education  are  those  where  the  Bible  is  most  widely 
circulated.  For  examples  we  may  refer  to  the  United  States, 
Scotland,  and  Iceland.  The  latter  country,  separated  from 
all  the  world,  with  arctic  snows  upon  and  volcanic  fires  be 
neath  its  surface,  and  too  poor  to  be  an  object  of  cupidity, 
though  nominally  subject  to  the  Danish  government,  is  in 
reality  a  free  state,  and  is  blessed  with  a  most  effective,  though 
peculiar  system  of  education,  and  with  primitive  simplicity  of 
piety.  Scotland,  too,  is  nominally  a  part  of  a  monarchical 
empire.  But  it  were  to  be  wished  that  all  republics  enjoyed 
as  much  liberty,  and  their  people  were  as  well  educated,  and 
their  virtue  and  piety  as  pure  and  elevated.  With  the  excep 
tions  above  referred  to,  we  might  say  the  same  of  England, 
where  the  Bible  has  a  wide  distribution.  The  republics  of 
Switzerland,  too,  may  be  quoted  as  a  striking  illustration  of 
this  argument.  For  here  we  have  professedly  free  states, 
lying  side  by  side,  in  some  of  which  the  Bible  is  restrained 
in  its  circulation,  and  in  others  it  is  widely  diffused  ;  and  it  is 
said  that  the  traveller  needs  no  map  to  inform  him  when  he 
has  passed  from  one  description  of  these  provinces  into  the 
other. 

Now,  it  needs  no  time  spent  to  show  that,  if  education  and 
liberty  follow  in  the  track  of  the  Bible,  and,  with  a  few  unim 
portant  exceptions,  are  cramped  and  sickly  where  that  book 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  325 

is  not  diffused,  —  it  requires,  I  say,  no  labored  argument  to 
show  that  that  book  is  eminently  favorable  to  free  institutions 
and  popular  instruction.  But  if  further  evidence  on  this  point 
be  required,  we  have  it  in  the  history  of  the  Scotch  Covenant 
ers  and  the  English  Puritans. 

Little  did  these  men,  who  for  two  hundred  years  suffered 
an  unrelenting  persecution  from  despots  and  hierarchs,  ima 
gine  that  they  were  working  out  and  giving  to  the  world 
the  great  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Driven 
from  their  native  laud  by  the  persecutions  of  Mary,  Provi 
dence  sent  them  to  Geneva,  where,  in  the  church  founded  by 
such  men  as  Farel  and  Calvin,  they  found  freedom  of  opinion 
and  the  rights  of  conscience  asserted.  Having  caught  the 
spirit  of  that  church,  when  permitted  to  return  to  England 
and  Scotland,  they  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  establish 
religious  freedom  there.  But,  in  this  attempt,  they  found 
that  they  could  not  secure  freedom  of  conscience  without 
securing  also  civil  liberty.  Hence  they  threw  themselves 
manfully  into  the  contest ;  and  the  result  was  the  independ 
ence  of  Scotland,  and  the  establishment  of  the  commonwealth 
in  England.  A  later,  but  still  more  important,  result  was  the 
settlement  of  this  country  by  men  who  drew  their  religious 
principles  directly  from  the  Bible,  and  who  carried  their  lofty 
ideas  of  religious  freedom  into  the  civil  constitution  and  into 
all  their  plans  of  education.  To  these  men,  therefore,  was 
the  world  indebted  for  the  first  clear  development  of  the  true 
principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  To  them,  says 
Hume,  the  English  people  owe  the  whole  freedom  of  their 
constitution  ;  and,  as  a  more  recent  and  eloquent  writer  ob 
serves,  "  then  were  first  proclaimed  those  mighty  principles 
which  have  since  worked  their  way  into  the  depths  of  the 
American  forest,  which  have  roused  Greece  from  the  slavery 
28 


326  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

and  degradation  of  two  thousand  years,  and  which,  from  one 
end  of  Europe  to  the  other,  have  kindled  an  unquenchable 
fire  in  the  hearts  of  the  oppressed,  and  loosed  the  knees  of 
the  oppressors  with  unwonted  fear."  * 

Such  is  what  may  be  called  the  inseparable  trio  —  religion, 
education,  and  freedom.  And  such  are  the  arguments  by 
which  it  is  proved  how  strongly  linked  together  they  are  by 
a  chain  of  influence  that  conveys  with  electric  speed  the 
strength  and  purity,  or  the  weakness  and  corruption,  of  one 
to  all  the  rest. 

The  subject  suggests  a  multitude  of  important  inferences ; 
and  with  a  brief  notice  of  a  few  I  will  relieve  your  exhausted 
patience. 

1.  It  shows  us  the  reason  why  arbitrary  governments  and 
corrupt  religions  have  been  so  much  afraid  of  the  circulation 
of  the  Bible. 

Their  supporters  have  usually  been  sagacious  enough  to 
discover  that  the  Bible  is  a  stern  advocate  for  civil  and  reli 
gious  freedom,  and  uncompromising  towards  all  corruptions 
of  its  spirit.  They  know  that  the  man  who  submits  himself 
fully  and  sincerely  to  its  principles  and  spirit  becomes  thor 
oughly  republican,  and  hostile  to  false  doctrine.  Hence  they 
sympathize  with  the  priest  of  a  perverted  Christianity  in  Eng 
land,  soon  after  the  art  of  printing  had  begun  to  multiply 
copies  of  the  Scriptures  :  "  We  must  root  out  printing,"  said 
he  in  his  sermon,  "  or  printing  will  root  us  out."  This  was 
a  true  prediction  ;  and  in  these  times  we  are  witnessing  its 
fulfilment. 

2.  The  subject  shoivs  us  that  the  religious  element  is  fun 
damental,  in  order  to  the  support  of  free  institutions. 

Nor  is  it  a  false  religion,  or  a  perverted  Christianity,  that 

*  Macaulay. 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  327 

will  do  this ;  but  there  must  be  genuine  piety  in  the  commu 
nity,  or  liberty  will  ere  long  degenerate,  if  it  does  not  utterly 
expire.  And  it  was  the  lot  of  Puritanism,  for  the  first  time 
in  this  world's  history,  to  discover,  and  by  its  sufferings  and 
struggles  and  triumphs  to  demonstrate,  this  most  important 
of  all  principles  in  the  science  of  government.  Even  yet  the 
world  is  purblind  to  this  truth ;  and  men  are  every  where 
struggling  for  liberty,  and  expecting  to  sustain  it  when  ac 
quired,  though  religion  have  but  a  feeble  hold  upon  the 
community.  And  when  they  are  disappointed,  as  they  always 
are  where  pure  religion  does  not  prevail,  enlightened  states 
men  seem  in  general  to  overlook  this  fundamental  defect,  and 
attempt  to  account  for  the  failure  upon  other  principles.  But 
the  Puritan  has  ever  been  distinguished,  —  and  in  almost 
every  country  but  our  own  has  been  hated  and  persecuted, — 
not  more  for  the  uncompromising  features  of  his  theology 
than  for  his  stern  independence  of  character.  Yet  that  inde 
pendence  is  founded  in  his  religion ;  and  not  till  his  views 
prevail,  and  his  example  be  imitated,  will  men  come  into  the 
full  realization  of  their  dreams  of  freedom. 

3.  The  subject  shows  us  that  the  prevalence  of  true  reli 
gion  will  insure  the  prevalence  of  education  and  liberty. 

Christianity  is  as  stern  an  advocate  of  education  among 
all  classes  as  for  the  freedom  of  all.  Nor  can  it  conceal 
features  so  strongly  marked ;  so  that  wherever  it  prevails  in 
its  purity  it  will  insist  upon  enlightening  men's  minds,  and  in 
breaking  from  their  necks  every  yoke.  And  here,  too,  Puri 
tanism  has  set  the  example.  Wherever  she  has  planted  her 
foot,  her  first  care  has  been  to  rear  a  temple  to  Jehovah, 
then  to  found  the  college,  the  academy,  and  the  primary 
school. 

4.  We  see  how  important  to  the  defence  and  purity  of 


328  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

true  religion  are  education  and  freedom  among  all  classes 
of  the  community. 

Though  an  ignorant  man  and  a  slave  may  exercise  pious 
feelings,  he  can  neither  defend  Christianity  against  sceptical 
objections,  nor  accurately  expound  its  doctrines,  nor  guard 
its  spirit  against  the  frosts  of  formalism  or  the  wildfire  of 
fanaticism.  When  the  metaphysician  by  subtle  arguments 
attempts  to  show  that  the  external  world  has  no  existence, 
and  consequently  no  argument  can  thence  be  deduced  for 
the  being  of  a  God  ;  when  the  phrenologist  makes  virtue  and 
vice  dependent  rather  upon  cranial  conformation  than  upon 
moral  causes ;  when  the  physiologist  maintains  that  mental 
phenomena  are  a  mere  function  of  the  brain,  and  that  organic 
beings,  as  well  as  all  natural  operations,  may  be  the  result 
of  law,  without  a  Deity  ;  when  the  astronomer  demonstrates 
that  the  earth  is  not  fixed,  nor  does  the  sun  literally  rise  and  set, 
as  it  was  formerly  supposed  the  Bible  taught ;  when  the  ge 
ologist  describes  a  preadamite  earth  of  indefinite  duration,  and 
the  chemist  declares  that  the  world  has  already  been  burned, 
and  therefore  can  undergo  no  future  conflagration ;  and  when 
the  philologist  throws  doubts  over  the  obvious  meaning  of 
Scripture,  and  converts  its  plainest  truths  into  enigmas ;  and 
when  baptized  philosophy  makes  divine  and  poetic  inspiration 
synonymous,  —  O,  what  but  ripe  learning  can  harmonize  all 
these  apparently  discordant  elements,  and  vindicate  and  enu 
cleate  the  pure  truths  of  the  Bible  ?  And  what  but  general 
intelligence  can  secure  the  mass  of  the  community,  amid 
such  angry  waves,  from  making  shipwreck  of  the  faith  ? 

5.    The  subject  shows  us  when  it  may  be  safe  and  expedient 
to  unite  church  and  state. 

Let  no  one  be  startled  when  we  maintain  that  church  and 
state  should  be  united  at  the  proper  time.     The  only  difficulty 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  329 

is,  that  men  have  attempted  it  too  early.  We  have  endeav 
ored  to  show  that  the  government  of  the  church,  as  described 
in  the  New  Testament,  is  a  democracy,  where  the  members 
are  governed  by  supreme  love  to  God  and  equal  love  to  all 
mankind.  Now,  suppose  the  church  to  be  enlarged  till  it 
embraces  all  the  world,  and  all  its  members  conform  strictly 
to  these  great  principles.  Suppose,  moreover,  that  all  civil 
governments  become  strictly  republican,  and  the  rulers  take 
the  law  of  God  as  the  basis  of  all  political  action.  How 
much,  in  such  a  case,  would  the  church  differ  from  the  state  ? 
Unless  there  are  political  measures  that  have  no  moral  char 
acter,  the  two  institutions  would  be  nearly,  perhaps  precisely, 
synonymous.  Both  of  them  would  be  what  I  have  called  a 
theocratic  democracy ;  and  there  would  be  but  one  govern 
ment  and  one  church  in  all  the  earth.  That  would  indeed  be 
the  perfect  state  of  society  so  much  talked  of  and  so  little 
understood.  When  such  a  state  of  the  world  'arrives,  —  alas, 
how  long  will  it  be  delayed  !  —  then  let  church  and  state  be 
united.  Indeed,  you  cannot  keep  them  apart.  But  till  then, 
their  union  will  be  as  incongruous  and  incoherent  as  the  parts 
of  Nebuchadnezzar's  image  of  gold,  brass,  iron,  and  clay. 

6.  We  see  in  this  subject  the  reason  why  so  many  efforts 
to  secure  freedom  have  failed  of  success. 

Men  under  despotic  rulers  suppose  that  the  grand  point  is 
to  obtain  their  freedom  ;  whereas  a  much  greater  difficulty  is 
to  secure  it.  Knowing  the  character  of  the  religion  and  the 
state  of  education  in  France  before  the  revolution  in  1789, 
and  in  South  America  more  recently,  we  might  have  pre 
dicted  the  anarchy  and  the  despotism  that  followed  the  efforts 
in  those  countries  to  establish  independence.  As  republicans, 
it  was  indeed  natural  for  us  to  entertain  hopes  that  the  recent 
convulsive  efforts  in  continental  Europe  to  establish  free  insti- 
28* 


330  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

tutions  would  not  be  wholly  blasted.  But  we  were  too  for- 
getful  of  the  state  of  religion  and  of  general  education  in 
those  countries.  If  a  people  who  scruple  not  to  hold  their 
political  elections,  their  inductions  to  office,  their  public  festi 
vals,  and  their  military  reviews  on  the  Sabbath  can  long 
maintain  a  pure  republicanism,  then  the  history  of  the  world 
hitherto  must  go  for  nothing  as  a  means  of  judging  of  the 
future.  The  same  may  be  said  essentially  of  that  nation 
where  the  popular  mind  is  left  uninstructed.  And  when  we 
recollect,  moreover,  what  millions  are  ready,  at  the  beck  of 
despots  and  hierarchs,  to  smother  every  cry  for  freedom,  we 
ought  to  have  been  prepared  to  hear  the  dying  shriek  of 
liberty  which  reached  us  before  the  last  year's  close  from 
every  one  of  these  countries  but  France,  and  for  those  rapid 
developments  even  there  which  show  her  citizens  yet  unpre 
pared  for  free  institutions.  These  nations,  it  may  be  hoped, 
will  not  sink  back  into  as  deep  a  political  night  as  before ;  yet 
we  may  be  sure  they  will  sink  to  the  level  of  the  religion  and 
the  education  among  the  people. 

7.  This  subject  shows  us  that  nations,  as  well  as  individ 
uals,  should  make  the  principles  of  the  Bible  the  basis  of 
their  policy  and  their  treatment  of  one  another. 

Strange  that  any  other  doctrine  should  have  been  promul 
gated,  and  that  the  same  men  who  acknowledged  their  indi 
vidual  obligation  to  love  their  neighbor  as  themselves,  to  do 
unto  others  as  they  would  that  others  should  do  unto  them, 
and  to  bless  them  by  whom  they  are  persecuted,  and  even 
to  love  their  enemies,  should  maintain  that  principles  of  expe 
diency  and  policy  should  take  the  place  of  moral  principles 
in  managing  the  affairs  of  nations.  For  what  reason  can  be 
urged  to  bind  individuals  to  conform  to  the  rules  of  the  Bible 
which  will  not  apply  to  nations  ?  And  if  pure  religion  be,  as 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  331 

we  have  endeavored  to  show,  the  most  important  of  all  the 
foundations  on  which  a  nation's  liberty  and  true  glory  rest, 
can  that  people  expect  prosperity  if  its  government  substitute 
something  else  as  the  guide  of  their  measures  ?  And  yet, 
had  governments  conducted  towards  one  another  according 
to  gospel  principles,  what  an  amount  of  blood  and  treasure 
would  have  been  spared,  and  what  an  amount  of  happiness 
secured  ! 

8.  In  the  eighth  place,  if  these  three  great  interests  of  the 
community  are  thus  inseparable,  then  should  the  different 
classes  appointed  for  their  protection  and  advancement  le 
united  also. 

He  whose  special  business  it  is  to  watch  over  and  defend 
the  interests  of  religion  should  be  in  sympathy  and  harmony 
with  those  whose  lives  are  devoted  to  the  cause  of  education, 
and  with  those  who  are  appointed  to  manage  our  political 
concerns.  And  so  should  these  latter  classes  reciprocate  that 
sympathy  towards  the  guardians  of  religion.  They  all  should 
mutually  realize  that,  if  the  interests  of  any  one  of  the  trio 
are  not  properly  and  efficiently  provided  for,  the  interests  of 
the  others  will  suffer  also.  Instead  of  indulging  illiberal 
prejudices  towards  one  another,  all  should  feel  as  if  they 
had  a  common  cause  to  sustain,  and  as  if  a  wound  could  not 
be  inflicted  upon  one  without  reaching  the  whole.  Thus 
would  they  form  a  threefold  cord,  which  both  Scripture  and 
experience  testify  is  not  quickly  broken. 

Finally  i  the  subject  defnes  the  great  outlines  of  that  policy 
which  the  riders  of  Massachusetts  should  ever  pursue. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  allude  to  particular  political  measures 
in  the  presence  of  the  constituted  authorities  of  this  common 
wealth.  But  my  office  and  my  subject  force  me  to  speak  of 
the  great  principles  on  which  a  government  founded  by  the 


332  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

Pilgrims  should  be  conducted.  Their  first  and  constant  aim 
was  to  establish  and  foster  the  institutions  of  religion,  educa 
tion,  and  freedom.  To  sustain  religion,  they  found  it  only 
necessary  to  allow  perfect  freedom  of  opinion,  and  to  protect 
all  in  the  peaceful  exercise  of  those  forms  of  worship  which 
conscience  dictates  to  be  right.  They  had  learned  by  bitter 
experience  that  to  take  religion  into  the  embrace  of  the  state 
was  only  to  cramp  its  vital  powers,  and  convert  it  into  a 
furious,  persecuting  demon.  Education,  too,  they  did  not 
attempt  to  bring  under  governmental  control ;  but  only  by 
liberal  benefactions  to  stimulate  individual  efforts.  And  with 
such  a  religion,  and  such  means  of  education,  they  did  not 
doubt  that  the  people  would  select  those  men  to  manage  their 
political  affairs  who  would  defend  their  liberties  and  wisely 
administer  the  government.  It  is  a  matter  of  just  gratulation 
that  all  who  have  filled  the  places  of  honor  and  trust  once 
occupied  by  the  Pilgrims  in  these  respects  have  followed 
essentially  their  system  of  policy.  On  questions  of  political 
expediency  they  have  had  different  opinions ;  but  on  these 
fundamental  principles  they  have  all  been  united.  Indeed, 
no  Massachusetts  statesman  could  outlive  the  storm  which  a 
desertion  of  these  principles  would  bring  upon  him.  To 
honor  and  sustain  religion,  diffuse  knowledge  among  the  peo 
ple,  and  preserve  true  liberty,  —  this  is  a  policy  as  settled  in 
Massachusetts  as  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians.  She 
cannot  hope  for  superiority  by  her  numbers,  extent  of  terri 
tory,  or  any  natural  advantages.  But  by  the  fostering  care 
of  a  free  government  over  her  religious  and  literary  institu 
tions,  she  can  qualify  and  send  forth,  as  she  already  has  done, 
strong  men  into  every  part  of  the  earth  to  place  a  lever  be 
neath  the  abodes  of  ignorance,  sin,  and  despotism,  and  lift 
them  up  into  the  sunshine  of  Christianity,  civilization,  and 
freedom. 


THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO.  333 

To  give  Massachusetts  such  a  character  is  the  noble  work 
committed  to  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  state  now  before 
me.  We  congratulate  them  upon  the  honor  of  occupying 
seats  made  sacred  by  so  long  a  line  of  illustrious  men,  with 
so  illustrious  a  beginning.  It  is  indeed  a  distinction  to  be 
coveted  to  take  the  place  of  such  men,  and  to  have  confided 
to  your  management  interests  so  momentous.  And  it  is  a 
delightful  evidence  that  the  spirit  of  our  fathers  still  lingers 
here  to  find  his  excellency  the  Governor,  his  honor  the  Lieu 
tenant  Governor,  the  honorable  Council,  the  honorable  Senate, 
and  the  House  of  Representatives,  instead  of  converting  the 
Sabbath  into  a  holiday  or  a  business  day,  converting  a  busi 
ness  day  into  a  Sabbath,  and  calling  to  their  aid  the  ministers 
of  the  gospel,  that,  at  the  commencement  of  their  responsible 
duties,  they  may  recognize  their  dependence  upon  an  over 
ruling  Providence,  and  baptize  their  legislation  with  the  spirit 
of  religion. 

It  is  gratifying  also  to  know  that  the  long  and  eminent 
public  services  of  the  beloved  statesmen  who  for  six  succes 
sive  years  have  filled  the  two  highest  places  in  the  executive 
department  of  the  government  have  been  a  practical  exem 
plification  of  the  principles  which  I  have  advocated  in  this 
discourse ;  and  therefore,  although  I  have  given  them  no 
instruction,  I  feel  almost  sure  that  I  have  had  their  sympathy. 
Their  oft-repeated  reelection  affords  evidence  that  the  people 
of  Massachusetts  are  not  tired  of  hearing  their  rulers  called 
"  the  just."  Nor  can  I  doubt  that  all  the  other  gentlemen 
composing  the  government,  and  elected  by  the  same  people, 
are  imbued  with  the  like  spirit,  and  that  their  legislation,  the 
present  session,  will  show  that  they  regard  religion,  education, 
and  freedom  as  inseparable.  God  give  them  success  in  a 
career  so  noble  and  important !  And  God  inspire  all  their 


334  THE    INSEPARABLE    TRIO. 

successors  with  the  like  spirit !  Then,  though,  by  the  expan 
sion  of  our  national  territory,  Massachusetts  should  become 
relatively  almost  a  point,  yet  shall  it  be  a  point  radiant  with 
the  light  of  piety,  of  learning,  and  of  liberty.  And  as  the 
stars  in  the  heavens  above  us,  that  revolve  within  the  circle 
of  perpetual  apparition,  never  sink  below  the  horizon,  so  shall 
this  commonwealth  ever  shine  bright  in  the  political  hemi 
sphere —  a  morning  star  to  usher  in  the  full  daylight  of  civil 
ization,  of  freedom,  and  of  happiness,  to  the  benighted  and 
oppressed  in  all  the  earth. 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK   OF  PROVIDENCE. 


AMID  all  the  darkness  and  confusion  of  this  world,  there  is 
one  precious  volume,  to  which  the  Bible  furnishes  the  key, 
and  which,  if  carefully  studied,  shows  us  how  to  trace  out 
the  relation  of  events  apparently  casual  or  discrepant,  and 
clears  up  most  of  the  enigmas  by  which  we  are  surrounded. 
It  is  the  book  of  divine  providence.  There  is  one  chapter  of 
that  volume  which  seems  to  me  peculiarly  appropriate  to  the 
present  occasion.  Its  leading  object  is  to  show  that  when  God 
has  an  important  object  to  accomplish,  he  raises  up,  and  pre 
pares  by  the  most  appropriate  discipline,  the  individuals  or  the 
communities  best  adapted  to  the  work.  If  I  can  succeed  in 
giving  you  the  contents  of  this  chapter,  and  thus  establish  and 
illustrate  this  most  important  position,  I  shall  feel  as  if  I  had 
fulfilled  the  commission  with  which  I  have  been  honored 
to-day. 

In  the  divine  administration  of  the  affairs  of  this  world,  it 
becomes  necessary  to  raise  up  instruments,  sometimes  to 
punish,  and  sometimes  to  bless,  individuals  and  communities. 
Hence  we  can  often  see  as  much  of  providential  design  in  the 
history  of  the  wicked  scourges  of  the  world,  as  of  its  choicest 
benefactors. 

In  looking  over  the  page  of  history  for  examples  illustrative 

(335) 


336      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

of  this  subject,  the  difficulty  is,  not  to  find  them,  but,  among 
so  many,  to  make  an  appropriate  selection. 

The  Bible  is  eminently  a  book  of  divine  providence ;  or 
rather,  such  is  its  object,  that  the  events  detailed  in  it  are  seen 
to  be  more  distinctly  related  to  one  another,  and  to  a  specific 
object,  than  the  details  of  profane  history.  Hence  we  must 
not  omit  to  appeal  to  that  volume  on  the  present  occasion. 

We  may  go  back  even  to  the  antediluvian  world.  The 
extreme  wickedness  of  the  race  made  it  necessary  that  God 
should  specially  interpose  for  its  destruction  by  a  flood  of 
waters.  But  he  needed  at  least  one  eminently  holy  man,  who 
might  be  saved,  and  prevent  the  extinction  of  the  race.  Such 
a  man  was  Noah.  He  had  the  firmness  to  persevere  for  one 
hundred  and  twenty  years  in  building  an  ark,  amid  the  scoffs 
and  jeers  of  all  around  him,  who  depended  on  nature's  con 
stancy,  and  laughed  at  God's  threatenings.  A  man  of  ordi 
nary  piety,  and  of  feeble  mind,  never  could  have  sustained 
such  a  trial,  and  therefore  God  raised  up  one,  even  in  those 
times  of  deep  degeneracy,  of  extraordinary  energy  and  piety  ; 
and  thus  was  the  object  accomplished,  and  the  race  preserved. 

The  effect,  however,  of  this  terrible  penal  infliction  was 
soon  lost,  and  idolatry  and  wickedness  again  triumphed. 
God  therefore  determined  to  select  a  particular  family  as  the 
progenitors  of  a  race  to  be  kept  distinct  from  all  the  rest  of 
the  world,  and  over  whom  he  would  exercise  a  special  and 
even  miraculous  providence.  It  was  important  that  the  father 
of  this  nation  should  be  a  man  of  extraordinary  mental  and 
moral  worth.  No  other  man  could  lay  broad  and  deep  the 
foundations  of  a  new  and  peculiar  nation.  Abraham  there 
fore  appeared  at  the  proper  time,  and  was  made  to  pass 
through  such  discipline  as  would  have  crushed  an  ordinary 
man.  The  first  startling  command  which  he  received  was,  to 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      337 

leave  his  father's  house,  his  kindred  and  his  country,  and  go 
out,  not  knowing  whither  he  went.  In  the  exercise  of  uncon 
querable  faith  he  obeyed,  and  wandered  long  ere  he  reached 
the  promised  land  of  Palestine.  There,  after  various  disci 
pline,  he  was  called  to  a  trial  of  his  faith,  probably  the  most 
severe  which  God  ever  imposed  on  man  —  I  mean  the  com 
mand  to  offer  up  his  only  son  as  a  burnt  offering.  Yet,  hav 
ing  obeyed,  he  became  well  entitled  to  be  called  the  father  of 
the-  faithful. 

But  although  descended  from  such  a  progenitor,  it  was  ne 
cessary  that  the  Hebrew  nation  should  pass  through  a  long 
and  bitter  experience  to  make  them  worthy  of  being  called 
the  chosen  people  of  God.  Four  hundred  and  thirty  years 
of  hard  bondage  could  alone  train  them  for  the  work  God  had 
assigned  them  ;  and  appropriate  instruments  must  be  prepared 
to  bring  about  this  result.  Joseph  was  appointed  to  lead  the 
way  in  bringing  the  whole  of  the  descendants  of  Abraham 
into  servitude.  Mildness  and  quiet  submission  to  whatever 
God  laid  upon  him  seem  to  have  been  the  predominant  traits 
in  his  character.  Such  a  man  could  bear  to  be  made  gov 
ernor  over  all  Egypt  without  losing  his  humility  and  fraternal 
sympathies,  even  though  sold  as  a  slave  by  his  brethren. 
Thus  were  the  Israelites  decoyed,  as  it  were,  into  servitude. 
They  found  one  of  their  own  number  to  protect  them,  and 
place  them  in  the  richest  part  of  the  country,  so  that  they 
multiplied  exceedingly.  Ere  long,  however,  they  began  to 
feel  the  rigors  of  their  bondage,  and  sighed  for  a  rescue. 
The  appointed  time  at  length  came.  But  now  a  different  set 
of  instruments  must  be  prepared  for  the  work ;  and  God 
knew  how  to  provide  them.  On  the  one  hand,  it  was  neces 
sary  that  a  leader  of  great  energy  and  wisdom  should  be 
ready  to  undertake  the  gigantic  labor.  And  such  a  man  was 
29 


338      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

Moses.  He  needed  the  best  education  that  could  be  given 
him  in  Egypt,  and  Providence  took  care  that  he  should,  in  his 
infancy,  become  the  protege  of  Pharaoh's  daughter.  Yet  he 
must  not  lose  his  attachment  to  his  own  kindred,  and  there 
fore  he  was  permitted  to  witness  such  oppression  of  a  Hebrew 
as  roused  the  man  and  the  patriot  within  him,  and  led  him  to 
take  the  sword  of  avenging  justice  into  his  own  hand.  Thus 
was  he  compelled  to  flee  from  Egypt,  and  by  a  forty  years' 
discipline  in  a  humble  and  obscure  station,  he  became  emi 
nently  fitted  for  the  great  work  that  was  before  him ;  from 
which,  however,  he  now  shrunk,  because  he  had  learned  its 
magnitude,  and  his  own  weakness.  But  when  the  harness 
was  fairly  buckled  on,  and  he  felt  God's  arm  underneath  him, 
he  bore  up  manfully,  and  acquitted  himself  nobly,  because 
God  had  disciplined  him  for  the  work. 

In  order,  however,  that  the  power  and  justice  of  Jehovah 
should  be  signally  displayed,  and  the  Egyptians  severely  pun 
ished  for  their  cruelties  towards  the  Hebrews,  it  became  ne 
cessary  that  a  savage  and  unfeeling  tyrant  should  be  placed 
on  the  throne.  And  the  Pharaoh  who  then  occupied  it  was 
eminently  fitted  to  become  the  scourge  of  God.  Even  mira 
cles  could  not  subdue  him  for  a  long  time,  and  there  was 
abundant  opportunity  for  the  display  of  God's  power.  If  the 
wonderful  miracles  that  preceded  and  accompanied  their  ex 
odus  did  not  make  an  indelible  impression  on  the  Hebrew 
mind  and  heart,  nothing  could  do  it.  But  they  have  ever 
since  been  appealed  to  by  that  people  as  certain  evidence  of 
God's  special  favor  towards  their  race,  and  have  served  to 
keep  them  distinct  to  this  day  from  all  other  nations. 

If  we  follow  down  the  path  of  Jewish  history,  from  the 
earliest  to  the  latest  times,  we  shall  be  met  continually  with 
illustrations  of  this  subject.  When  God  thought  proper  to 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      339 

rescue  the  Hebrews  from  the  twenty  years'  cruel  oppression 
of  Jabin,  the  Canaanite,  he  educated  two  women,  Deborah,  a 
judge  and  a  prophetess,  and  Jael,  the  wife  of  Heber,  and  in 
spired  them  with  a  heroism  that  seems  to  have  been  wanting 
in  the  men  of  that  age,  and  led  the  first  to  the  battle  field,  and 
the  last  to  drive  a  nail  through  the  head  of  Sisera,  and  thus 
deliver  the  land  from  bondage.  How  eminently  fitted  by  na 
ture  and  by  discipline  for  the  trying  work  assigned  them 
were  Elijah  and  Elisha  !  And  by  what  a  series  of  hardships, 
privations,  and  dangers,  was  David,  the  shepherd  boy,  grad 
ually  conducted  to  the  throne,  and  even  made  a  type  of  the 
Saviour !  How  different  the  education  of  his  son  Solomon ! 
but  as  wisely  adapted  to  the  peaceful  yet  magnificent  scenes 
through  which  he  was  to  pass. 

An  unrighteous  decree  for  the  destruction  of  the  Jews 
scattered  through  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  prov 
inces  of  Persia  and  Medea,  had  been  surreptitiously  obtained 
from  Ahasuerus,  and  their  fate  seemed  inevitable.  But  God 
had  long  ago  provided  for  their  rescue,  and  prepared  the  ap 
propriate  instruments.  Mordecai  and  Esther  were  educated 
and  sent  into  the  palace  of  the  king  for  this  very  purpose  ; 
the  first,  a  stern  old  man,  inflexible  in  his  religious  character  ; 
and  the  last  an  amiable  woman,  of  great  personal  beauty, 
who  had  obtained  a  strong  influence  over  the  king,  and  yet 
had  not  lost  her  attachment  to  her  own  people,  nor  become 
insensible  to  the  moral  obligations  that  came  upon  her  from 
her  exalted  position.  She  therefore  resolutely  put  her  life  in 
jeopardy,  and  thus  saved  herself  and  her  people,  and  brought 
the  avenging  sword  upon  their  persecutors. 

When  the  captivity  of  the  Jews  in  Babylon  had  continued 
long  enough  to  answer  the  divine  purposes,  Cyrus  was  placed 
on  the  throne  of  Persia  and  Medea,  with  a  heart  prepared  to 


340  A    CHAPTER.    IN    THE    BOOK    OF    PROVIDENCE. 

promote  their  return  to  Palestine.  This  was  accomplished 
under  Zerubbabel ;  and  when,  after  many  years  of  trial,  it 
became  important  to  have  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  rebuilt,  and 
the  population  reformed  from  their  idolatries  and  immoralities, 
then  appeared  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  whom  God  had  been 
secretly  educating  for  the  difficult  work ;  and  they  carried 
it  through  only  as  men  disciplined  in  such  a  school  could 
do  it. 

It  will  be  unnecessary,  before  this  audience,  to  show  how 
perfectly  adapted  to  his  work  was  the  Saviour  of  the  world, 
although  in  truth  it  be  the  most  striking  illustration  of  my 
subject  which  the  world  has  ever  witnessed.  But  the  facts 
are  already  in  your  memories  ;  and  were  they  not,  volumes, 
rather  than  a  few  paragraphs,  would  be  requisite  to  elucidate 
the  subject. 

For  the  same  reasons,  I  need  not  dwell  upon  the  history 
of  the  apostles  ;  and  yet  gladly  would  I  linger  here,  espe 
cially  upon  that  of  Paul.  Had  you  seen  him,  a  proud,  tal 
ented  young  man,  in  the  school  of  Gamaliel,  intolerant  in  the 
extreme  towards  every  thing  connected  with  Christianity, 
standing  by  when  Stephen  was  stoned,  and  encouraging  his 
murderers,  and  afterwards  rushing  like  a  tiger  towards  Da 
mascus,  to  seize  the  unoffending  followers  of  Christ,  who,  all 
this  time,  could  have  imagined  that  such  a  school  was  the  one 
best  adapted  to  prepare  him  for  the  great  work  before  him  ? 
Yet  it  was  just  the  experience  he  needed.  His  future  work 
required  talents  of  the  first  order,  a  boldness  and  perse 
verance  amounting  almost  to  rashness,  and  such  a  conviction 
of  the  great  truths  of  religion  as  could  result  only  from  per 
sonal  experience  of  their  power.  He  who  was  to  combat 
Jewish  prejudices  must  know  from  experience  what  they 
were,  and  he  familiar  with  the  whole  Jewish  economy.  He 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      341 

who  was  to  teach  and  illustrate  the  doctrines  of  grace,  in  the 
midst  of  fiery  opposition,  must  have  been  converted  miracu 
lously.  His  convictions  of  his  own  wickedness  and  the  de- 
ceitfulness  of  his  heart  must  have  been  intensely  pungent, 
and  his  sense  of  deliverance  by  a  crucified  Saviour  intensely 
vivid,  or  he  never  could  set  forth  those  truths  justly  and  im 
pressively.  In  short,  now  that  we  know  the  whole  history  of 
Paul,  we  see  that  his  entire  course,  previous  to  conversion, 
was  just  the  one  best  fitted  to  train  him  for  the  part  God  had 
assigned  him.  And  yet,  before  his  conversion,  we  should 
have  wondered  why  God  permitted  such  a  furious  persecutor 
to  live  and  make  havoc  in  the  church. 

If  we  follow  down  the  history  of  the  church  for  three  hun 
dred  years  after  Christ,  we  shall  find  evidence  of  the  wonder 
working  providence  of  God  in  the  ten  terrible  persecutions 
which  were  then  experienced.  By  these  onsets,  two  impor 
tant  objects  were  accomplished,  which  probably  could  have 
been  secured  in  no  other  way.  The  first  was  the  purification 
of  the  church,  and  the  second  the  speedy  publication  of  the 
gospel  in  almost  every  land.  For  those  who  were  persecuted 
without  mercy  at  home  were  scattered  abroad  every  where, 
and  they  could  not  but  speak  the  things  which  they  had  seen 
and  heard.  Living  thus  in  jeopardy  of  life,  and  hunted  from 
place  to  place,  they  grew  rapidly  in  piety,  and,  by  their  holy 
lives,  won  over  many  to  embrace  the  true  faith.  Nor  were 
the  instruments  wanting  to  carry  on  these  persecutions.  God 
had  only  to  take  away  his  restraining  influences  from  the 
emperors  of  Rome,  and  to  worry  and  devour  the  virtuous  and 
the  holy  was  only  acting  out  the  desires  of  hearts  naturally 
ferocious  and  cruel,  and  rendered  doubly  malignant  and  vile 
by  long  indulgence.  Hence  it  was,  that  after  these  despots 
had  been  used  to  accomplish  these  important  objects  for  the 
29* 


342      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

church,  God  turned  upon  them,  and  punished  them  terribly 
for  their  fiendish  assaults  upon  the  followers  of  Christ. 

After  these  protracted  onsets  upon  the  church  came  the 
hour  of  her  prosperity,  and  Constantine  proclaimed  Chris 
tianity  to  be  the  religion  of  the  empire.  But  though  "Religion 
could  flourish  and  spread  when  the  powers  of  earth  were 
arrayed  against  her,  she  could  not  endure  success,  and  she 
sank  into  the  embraces  of  the  world,  and  an  almost  total 
eclipse  came  over  her  glories.  For  many  a  long  century  did 
the  darkness  deepen,  until  at  last,  when  the  punishment  of 
apostasy  and  worldliness  had  been  long  and  severe  enough, 
God  prepared  other  instruments  for  the  revival  of  true  reli 
gion.  He  chose,  as  a  leading  agent  in  this  work,  an  Augus- 
tinian  monk  ;  or  rather,  he  so  ordered  matters  that  this  man, 
after  receiving  a  thorough  education,  should  choose  a  monas 
tic  life,  and  become  a  zealous  advocate  of  Papacy,  and  a 
strict  observer  of  its  forms,  in  order  that  he  might  learn  its 
corruptions,  and  how  to  expose  its  perversions.  It  was  provi 
dential,  also,  that  Luther  should  come  in  contact  with  an  in 
famous  vender  of  indulgences,  that  he  might  be  roused  to  put 
his  shoulder  to  the  great  work  of  the  reformation.  Around 
him  there  also  sprang  up  other  eminent  men,  admirably  fitted 
for  the  various  posts  which  must  be  occupied  and  sustained  in 
such  a  long-drawn  and  bitter  conflict.  That  contest  is  not 
indeed  yet  ended.  But  many  a  splendid  triumph  has  been 
already  witnessed  over  bigotry,  intolerance,  ignorance,  and 
clerical  corruption ;  enough  to  insure  final  and  glorious 
success. 

If  we  turn  our  attention  away  for  a  moment  from  affairs 
more  strictly  religious,  we  shall  find  in  uninspired  secular  his 
tory  illustrations  of  my  subject  of  no  doubtful  character.  In 
ancient  times,  and  before  the  introduction  of  the  gospel,  it 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.       343 

seemed  important  that  human  wisdom  and  philosophy  should 
have  a  fair  opportunity  to  see  how  much  they  could  do  to  re 
form  and  elevate  society  without  Christianity.  Hence  God 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  Grecian  states,  and  gave  to  Solon 
and  Lycurgus  a  fair  field  for  trying  the  experiment.  It  was 
tried  most  thoroughly  ;  and  if  severe  discipline,  elegant  lit 
erature,  sagacious  philosophy,  and  refinement  of  manners 
could  have  secured  freedom  and  virtue  in  connection  with 
polytheism,  the  work  would  have  been  accomplished  in 
Greece.  But  her  .vaunted  liberty  was,  after  all,  only  the 
freedom  of  an  aristocratic  few,  while  the  majority  were  the 
most  abject  slaves.  And  so  it  was  with  her  literature  and  her 
arts.  Though  she  has  left  many  monuments  of  refinement 
and  learning,  yet  the  great  mass  of  her  inhabitants  were  bru 
talized,  trampled  under  foot  by  the  few,  degraded  by  immo 
rality  and  superstition,  and  ignorant  of  the  true  God.  And 
even  the  wisest  of  her  philosophers  has  left  us  a  fine  comment 
on  his  theoretical  theism,  by  directing,  in  his  dying  moments, 
a  sacrifice  to  be  made  to  ^Esculapius.  He  has  left  us,  too,  his 
despairing  and  impressive  conviction,  that  if  God  did  not 
vouchsafe  to  give  a  revelation,  vain  would  be  every  effort  to 
reform  and  elevate  the  mass  of  men.  In  short,  so  well  had 
God's  providence  adapted  the  agents  and  the  circumstances, 
that  the  experiment  never  need  be  repeated,  to  show  how 
utterly  impossible  it  is  for  man  to  rise  to  an  elevated  condition 
of  true  liberty  or  virtue  under  the  dominion  of  polytheism 
and  of  philosophy  alone. 

We  may  not  be  able  to  understand  all  the  reasons  why 
God  permitted  so  disastrous  an  eclipse  to  come  over  the  world 
in  what  are  called  the  dark  ages  ;  but  we  can  often  see  how 
wonderfully  adapted  were  the  agencies  which  he  employed 
to  relieve  religion  of  its  incubus,  and  open  a  new  career  for 


344      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

science  and  civilization.  I  have  already  referred  to  the  lead 
ing  agents  in  the  reformation  from  Popery.  But  there  were 
other  reformations  and  improvements  that  demanded  and 
secured  appropriate  instruments.  It  is  interesting  to  observe 
how  the  art  of  printing  sprang  up  just  at  the  right  moment  — 
at  a  time  when  the  human  mind  was  waking  up  from  its  long 
slumber.  But  its  advancement  must  have  been  arrested  soon, 
had  not  some  one  discovered  —  what  it  is  said  was  known 
much  earlier  in  China,  viz.  —  how  to  print  upon  wooden 
blocks.  Who  the  individual  was  that  first  brought  out  this 
happy  thought,  or  rather  applied  it  experimentally,  it  may  not 
be  possible  to  decide.  But  it  was  so  rapidly  improved  that 
the  original  inventor  was  forgotten,  and  at  least  three  German 
cities  contend  for  the  honor.  The  main  point,  however,  which 
I  wish  now  to  present  before  you  is  the  fact  that  these  dis 
coveries  were  made  just  at  that  juncture  in  human  affairs 
when  they  were  indispensable  to  bring  on  a  high  state  of 
civilization. 

In  order  to  advance  the  same  object,  and  others  collateral 
with  it,  the  time  had  now  arrived  when  it  was  desirable  that  a 
new  continent  should  be  brought  to  light.  But  the  great  mass 
of  men,  even  the  highly  enlightened,  were  ready  to  regard 
the  suggestion  that  such  a  continent  existed  as  a  mere  quix 
otic  dream.  To  breast  this  strong  current  of  popular  opinion 
and  feeling,  it  needed  most  extraordinary  qualifications.  But 
they  appeared  in  Columbus.  So  strong  was  the  principle  of 
faith  in  his  mental  constitution,  that  he  trusted  even  in  a  false 
theory  —  I  mean  his  notion  that  there  must  be  a  western  con 
tinent  to  counterbalance  the  eastern.  He  believed  in  this  so 
firmly  that  he  was  borne  through  almost  insuperable  difficul 
ties  and  dangers  to  an  ultimate  triumph — just  as,  in  some 
parts  of  mathematics,  an  erroneous  supposition  leads  to  the 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      345 

truth.  In  vain  did  the  courts  of  Genoa,  Lisbon,  and  London 
reject  his  proposals.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  gave  him  at  last 
the  desired  aid.  But  in  the  superstitious  fears  and  discour 
agement  of  the  sailors  he  had  a  still  more  formidable  diffi 
culty.  Yet  his  forty  years'  nautical  experience  enabled  him 
to  triumph  even  here.  The  results  of  his  success  have  even 
yet  only  begun  to  be  developed.  But  the  uses  to  which  Prov 
idence  has  already  put  this  western  continent  are  an  earnest 
of  the  yet  more  important  part  it  is  destined  to  fulfil  in  work 
ing  out  the  destinies  of  the  race. 

The  manner  in  which  progress  in  civilization,  learning, 
morality,  and  religion  has  usually  been  made  is  by  develop 
ments  made,  first  in  one  field  and  then  in  another,  by  individ 
uals  or  communities  fitted  for  the  work.  When,  for  instance, 
the  period  had  arrived  in  which  it  was  desirable  that  civiliza 
tion  should  be  carried  into  the  inhospitable  regions  of  Russia, 
Peter  the  Great  appeared,  possessed  of  the  requisite  qualifi 
cations.  Had  he  not  been  a  fierce  and  unyielding  tyrant,  he 
never  could  have  controlled  the  ferocity  or  overcome  the 
prejudices  of  an  ignorant  people.  But  he  must  also  be  will 
ing  to  take  the  place  of  a  humble  learner,  or  he  never  could 
have  gone  into  the  ship  yards  of  Holland  and  England  as  a 
common  carpenter  and  blacksmith,  and  even  at  home  to 
make  his  own  generals  and  admirals  take  precedence  of  him 
self,  while  he  was  learning  military  and  naval  tactics.  To 
expect,  however,  that  such  opposite  qualities  should  be  long 
exhibited  by  any  man,  and  especially  by  one  who  was  at  the 
head  of  forty  millions  of  people,  with  unlimited  power,  was 
absurd,  unless  some  peculiar  controlling  influence  was  brought 
to  bear  upon  him.  Therefore  it  was  that  God  gave  such  a 
power  to  the  foundling  girl  Catharine,  who  could  control  the 
fiercest  paroxysms  of  the  tyrant.  In  this  singular  manner 


346      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

did  Providence  do  more  for  the  civilization  of  Northern  Eu 
rope  in  that  one  reign  than  centuries  have  accomplished  in 
other  lands. 

Through  many  a  dark  century  the  Christian  church  had 
forgotten  the  injunction  of  her  risen  Saviour,  to  "  go  into  all 
the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature."  But  the 
eclaircissement  of  the  truth  by  the  reformation  in  the  four 
teenth  century  prepared  the  way  for  the  revival  of  the  mis 
sionary  spirit.  It  showed  itself,  indeed,  at  the  first,  in  the 
Romish  church ;  but  it  seemed  rather  a  zeal  for  conversions 
to  Papacy  than  to  Christianity.  Yet  the  example  roused  the 
Protestant  world  to  engage  in  the  work.  And  though  it  was 
too  much  for  any  one  man  to  have  the  honor  of  being  the 
prominent  leader  in  such  an  enterprise,  yet  God  prepared  and 
brought  forward  at  the  right  time  a  large  number,  who  went 
forth,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  to  this  mighty  conflict ;  and  as 
they  have  fallen  successively,  others  have  always  been  found 
fitted  by  nature  and  by  grace  to  catch  their  mantles  and  urge 
forward  the  world's  conversion.  The  work  is  indeed  most 
arduous  and  difficult ;  but  Providence  has  found  men  emi 
nently  fitted  for  its  successful  prosecution. 

As  the  precepts  of  the  Bible  became  more  and  better  un 
derstood,  benevolent  men  were  led  to  search  out  the  various 
forms  of  human  suffering,  to  lift  up  the  dark  curtain  which 
self-interest,  or  arbitrary  power,  or  bigotry  and  intolerance 
had  covered  over  many  a  den  of  cruelty  and  wickedness,  and 
show  to  the  world  how  man  had  brutalized  his  fellow,  and 
how  he  had, 

"  Clothed  in  a  little  brief  authority, 
Played  such  fantastic  tricks  before  high  Heaven 
As  made  the  angels  weep." 

With  a  martyr  spirit,  Howard  went  down  into  the  infected 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PKOVIDENCE.      347 

dungeons  of  the  prisoner,  and  carried  there,  what  never 
before  had  visited  him,  the  light  of  hope  and  Christian  sym 
pathy,  along  with  such  physical  amelioration  of  his  condition 
as  was  consistent  with  the  proper  objects  of  imprisonment 
and  punishment.  Buchanan  went  among  the  suttees  and  idol 
temples  of  India,  and  sketched  so  vividly  their  horrid  rites  as 
to  arouse  the  Christian  world  to  interpose  the  shield  of  pro 
tection  over  the  helpless  victims,  and  to  pour  the  light  of  the 
gospel  into  the  hearts  of  their  oppressors.  Nay,  he  penetrated 
even  the  charnel  house  of  the  Romish  Inquisition,  and  showed 
the  world  how  much  worse  than  heathenism  a  perverted  Chris 
tianity  may  become. 

Long  had  the  abominations  of  the  slave  trade  been  un 
heeded,  and  the  groans  of  the  victims  of  oppression  smothered 
by  the  thick  folds  of  cupidity  and  a  perverted  public  opinion. 
But  God's  justice  could  not  sleep  forever  ;  and  the  time  at 
length  came  when  he  raised  up  the  fit  instruments  for  en 
lightening  the  public  mind  and  arousing  the  public  conscience. 
A  leader  among  them  was  Wilberforce,  who  stood  in  the 
British  Parliament,  like  a  rock  from  which  the  angry  waves 
of  prejudice  and  passion  were  thrown  back  broken  and  dissi 
pated.  Defeated  ten  times,  in  that  body,  in  his  attempts  to 
bring  the  arm  of  the  government  to  crush  this  horrid  traffic, 
he  lived  to  see  the  eleventh  effort,  by  his  friend  Pitt,  success 
ful.  And  since  that  day,  the  same  Providence  has  provided 
other  instruments,  not  less  adapted  to  advance  the  cause  of 
human  liberty  ;  and  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  days  of  this 
unrighteous  system  of  oppression  are  numbered,  and  well 
nigh  finished. 

Equally  well  adapted  was  Wilberforce  for  another  impor 
tant  enterprise  ;  and  that  was,  to  vindicate  the  truths  of  evan 
gelical  religion  before  the  higher  classes  of  Great  Britain, 


348      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

and  to  show  their  practical  influence  upon  the  life.  In  his 
own  character,  of  beautiful  simplicity  and  consistency,  his 
contemporaries  saw  a  refutation  of  the  vile  calumnies  with 
which  a  flippant  scepticism  had  assailed  vital  religion ;  and, 
since  his  death,  his  Practical  View  of  Religion,  already  trans 
lated  into  most  of  the  languages  of  Europe,  and  having  passed 
through  more  than  fifty  editions  in  the  English  language,  still 
renders  experimental  religion  respectable  among  the  higher 
classes  of  society,  and  doubtless  proves  the  means  of  salva 
tion  to  many. 

But  no  less  important  was  it  that  the  lower  classes  of  soci 
ety,  in  professedly  Christian  countries,  should  be  enlightened 
and  brought  under  the  influence  of  the  gospel.  Hence  God, 
by  a  very  simple  instrumentality,  started  a  system  which  has 
already  done  much,  and  is  destined  to  do  much  more,  for 
the  rising  generation  in  all  lands,  especially  for  the  poor  and 
destitute.  I  refer  to  Sabbath  schools,  and  to  their  humble 
founder,  Robert  Raikes.  The  thought  that  led  him  to  collect 
the  poor  and  the  vicious  for  instruction  on  the  Sabbath  seemed 
probably  to  him  an  accidental  circumstance  ;  nor  could  he 
have  dreamed  that  that  thought  would  prove  a  germ  from 
which  would  spring  and  spread  a  tree  whose  fruit  should  be 
for  the  healing  of  all  nations.  But  in  God's  plan  the  whole 
system  lay  spread  out  in  far  wider  ramifications  than  have  yet 
been  developed  to  mortal  vision.  And  yet  how  appropriate 
the  instrumentality  by  which  it  was  commenced  ! 

In  order  that  civilization  should  make  much  progress,  it 
was  necessary  that  all  branches  of  learning  should  be  devel 
oped.  And  the  bright  names  that  shine,  as  stars  of  the  first 
magnitude,  along  the  path  of  literature  and  science,  show 
how  admirably  fitted,  by  nature  and  by  discipline,  were  the 
distinguished  founders  of  the  different  branches  of  knowledge, 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      349 

and  the  great  discoverers  of  nature's  laws.  Take,  for  an 
example,  such  a  man  as  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  of  whom  it  was 
hardly  exaggeration  for  the  poet  to  say,  — 

"  Nature  and  nature's  laws  lay  hid  in  night ; 
God  said,  '  Let  Newton  be,'  and  all  was  light." 

With  equal  propriety  might  we  say  the  same  of  Linnaeus  in 
natural  history,  and  of  Cuvier  in  comparative  anatomy.  In 
the  same  category  might  we  place  the  name  of  Jonathan 
Edwards  as  the  Coryphaeus  of  metaphysical  theology.  In 
his  case,  how  interesting  to  observe  the  course  of  divine 
Providence  !  In  the  science  to  which  he  devoted  himself,  it 
was  not  necessary,  as  in  physical  science,  that  there  should 
be  a  costly  array  of  instruments  to  work  with.  By  having 
the  Bible  for  his  theology,  and  his  own  mental  constitution  as 
the  basis  of  his  metaphysics,  it  was  as  easy,  perhaps  easier, 
for  Edwards  to  work  out  the  difficult  problems  of  liberty  and 
necessity,  the  freedom  of  the  will,  free  agency,  and  divine 
efficiency  in  the  solitudes  of  a  missionary  life  among  the 
American  Indians  as  in  the  universities  of  Europe.  At  any 
rate,  those  problems  were  so  handled  by  the  American  divine 
as  to  lead  such  a  man  as  Dr.  Chalmers  to  say,  u  There  is  no 
European  divine  to  whom  I  make  such  frequent  appeals  in 
my  class  room  as  I  do  to  Edwards  ;  no  book  of  human  com 
position  which  I  more  strenuously  recommend  than  his  Trea 
tise  on  the  Will,  read  by  me,  forty-seven  years  ago,  with  a 
conviction  that  has  never  since  faltered,  and  which  has  helped 
me,  more  than  any  other  uninspired  work,  to  find  my  way 
through  all  that  might  otherwise  have  proved  baffling,  and 
transcendental,  and  mysterious  in  the  peculiarities  of  Cal 
vinism. 

But  society  can  never  attain  to  a  very  advanced  condition 
30 


350      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

unless  means  are  provided  for  the  thorough  education  of  the 
female  mind.  Yet  it  was  not  till  a  comparatively  late  period 
that  this  truth  began  to  be  admitted  and  appreciated.  Nay, 
through  many  a  dark  century  did  the  opinion  prevail  —  would 
I  could  say  it  has  even  now  entirely  disappeared  —  that 
woman  was  not  capable  of  that  discipline,  enlargement,  and 
vigor  of  mind  which  man  has  exhibited,  and  therefore  her 
education  was  comparatively  of  little  consequence.  Man  first 
monopolized  all  the  means  of  intellectual  culture  to  himself; 
and  then,  because  the  neglected  female  mind  did  pot  manifest 
equal  mental  power  and  development  as  his  own,  he  very 
sagaciously  inferred  its  inferiority.  To  show  the  absurdity  of 
such  an  unphilosophical  inference,  God  has  suffered,  from 
time  to  time,  such  a  woman  to  appear  as  Mary  Somerville, 
the  author  of  the  Connection  of  the  Physical  Sciences  ;  and 
to  give  to  the  sex  generally  an  opportunity  to  show  what  are 
their  mental  characteristics,  he  has,  in  recent  times,  raised 
up  such  women  as  the  five  Misses  More,  to  open  seminaries 
for  the  education  of  their  sex,  and  to  give  to  Hannah,  the 
youngest,  a  power  with  the  pen  rarely  equalled  as  a  means 
of  doing  good  among  all  classes  and  both  sexes.  Gladly 
would  I  linger  to  show  how  finely  adapted  she  was  by  nature 
and  by  discipline  for  her  important  mission.  But  time  will 
not  permit. 

We  may  observe  the  same  principles  of  divine  Providence 
in  bringing  out  discoveries  in  the  arts  as  in  the  sciences. 
Neither  the  men  who  have  made  these  discoveries  nor  their 
contemporaries  have  been  fully  aware  of  the  part  they  were 
acting,  or  of  the  wide  ultimate  influence  of  their  dimly-seen 
and  imperfectly-developed  conceptions  ;  nor  did  they  imagine 
that  Providence  had  any  thing  to  do  in  the  business.  It 
seemed  a  small  matter  when  the  Marquis  of  Worcester,  in 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      351 

1655,  described  his  "  admirable  and  most  forcible  way  to 
drive  up  water  by  fire  ; "  yet  it  was  the  germ  of  the  steam 
engine,  which  has  so  much  changed  almost  the  whole  aspect 
of  society.  And  when  Savary  threw  his  wine  flask  into  the 
fire,  how  apparently  accidental  was  it  that  he  was  led  thereby 
to  discover  the  mode  of  creating  a  vacuum  by  the  condensa 
tion  of  steam  !  So,  too,  when  the  multitude  on  the  wharf  at 
New  York  were  laughing  at  the  first  unsuccessful  effort  of 
Robert  Fulton  to  work  a  steamboat,  how  much  more  easily 
might  they  have  been  led  to  believe  that  he  was  given  up  of 
Providence  to  infatuation  than  that  he  was  a  chosen  agent  to 
work  out  one  of  the  greatest  improvements  of  the  age  !  The 
discovery  that  takes  precedence  of  all  others  in  anatomy, 
that  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  brought  so  much  obloquy 
upon  Harvey,  and  so  diminished  his  practice  as  a  physician, 
that  he  was  prevented  afterwards  from  publishing  other  dis 
coveries.  The  physician  who  first  tied  an  artery  was  hooted 
at.  He  who  first  used  cantharides  was  imprisoned  by  the 
London  College  of  Physicians.  The  more  recent  and  highly 
important  discovery  of  etherization,  by  one  of  our  country 
men,  was  made  while  its  author  was  trying  to  perfect  his 
favorite  art  of  dentistry.  Yet  in  all  these  cases  there  was  an 
unseen  Providence  who  gave  these  discoverers  the  right  sort 
of  abilities,  and  placed  them  in  the  appropriate  circumstances 
for  enucleating  the  happy  thought.  Nor  does  that  Providence 
allow  any  discovery  to  come  out  before  the  right  time,  or  to 
be  delayed  a  moment  too  long. 

But,  after  all,  the  history  of  the  English  Puritans  and 
Scotch  Covenanters  furnishes  the  most  appropriate  illustration 
of  my  subject  which  I  can  offer.  Ever  since  man's  exist 
ence  on  the  globe,  he  has  had  indefinite  yearnings  after  civil 
and  religious  liberty ;  and  many  a  time  has  he  attempted  to 


352      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

realize  these  blessings  by  the  most  profuse  sacrifices.  But 
every  where,  both  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  had  he  failed 
of  his  object ;  at  least,  the  great  mass  of  the  community  had 
always  been  in  servitude.  The  time,  however,  was  now 
come  when  this  great  problem  might  be  solved  —  but  not 
without  great  suffering  and  effort.  God  knew,  though  man 
did  not,  that  the  germ  of  civil  liberty  lay  coiled  up  in  the 
constitution  of  the  Christian  church.  He  therefore  suffered 
many  of  his  true  worshippers  in  England  and  Scotland  to 
experience  a  persecution  from  kings  and  hierarchies  of  two 
hundred  years'  duration  —  from  the  days  of  Wickliffe  to  those 
of  Robinson.  This  awakened  an  intense  desire  for  religious 
freedom  in  the  bosoms  of  the  persecuted.  But  it  was  neces 
sary,  to  bring  about  the  result,  that  they  should  be  compelled 
to  flee  from  their  native  country,  and  take  refuge  in  Geneva. 
There,  in  the  church  of  Farel  and  Calvin,  they  saw  the  salu 
tary  influence  of  a  democratic  form  of  government ;  and 
when  they  returned  to  Great  Britain,  they  could  not  but  en 
deavor  to  establish  a  church  on  the  same  foundation.  They 
had  not  aimed  or  thought  of  a  republican  civil  government. 
But  they  soon  found  that,  if  they  would  secure  a  church  with 
out  a  bishop,  they  must  have  a  state  without  a  king.  The 
result  was  freedom  in  Scotland  and  the  commonwealth  in 
England.  But  when  monarchy  and  hierarchy  again  tri 
umphed,  these  men  were  driven  once  more  into  exile.  They 
did  not  know  the  reason ;  but  the  subsequent  developments 
of  Providence  have  shown  that  the  object  was  to  people  this 
country  with  men  of  deep-toned  piety,  whose  attachment  to 
religious  liberty  would  lead  them  to  be  stern  advocates  for 
civil  freedom.  They  had  already  been  the  means  of  securing 
to  the  people  of  England  all  the  liberty  which  their  civil  con 
stitution  contains  at  this  day ;  and  now  they  were  to  accom- 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      353 

plish  a  mightier  work,  by  laying  the  foundations  of  a  wide 
empire  which  should  prove  a  refuge  for  the  oppressed  of 
every  land.  True,  at  first  that  people  must  be  tributary  to 
the  mother  country.  But  after  a  time,  the  arm  of  Providence 
showed  them  a  way  to  independence,  and  called  into  their 
service  an  extraordinary  leader,  as  distinctly  pointed  out  for 
their  guide  to  freedom  as  Moses  was  to  conduct  the  Hebrews 
to  the  promised  land.  O,  could  these  Puritans  and  Pilgrims 
have  seen  the  glorious  results  of  their  sacrifices  and  suffer 
ings,  how  would  the  prospect  have  cheered  them  in  the  dark 
est  hour  !  But  they  have  seen  it  all  long  ere  this ;  and  it  has 
often  swelled  into  rapture  their  song  in  heaven. 

But  why  should  I  go  back  into  history,  or  abroad  to  other 
lands,  for  illustrations  of  my  subject,  when  the  place  and  the 
occasion  furnish  me  with  an  example  quite  as  striking  as  any 
that  history  can  present,  and  to  us  of  much  deeper  interest  ? 
To  pass  by  all  others,  whose  presence  we  miss,  but  whose 
lives  might  well  illustrate  our  subject,  every  thing  around  us 
to-day  —  the  subdued  greetings  of  friends,  the  starting  tear, 
this  vacant  seat,  these  badges  of  mourning,  ay,  and  yonder 
marble,  too  —  reminds  us  that  one  is  absent  whose  life  has 
filled  a  large  page  in  the  book  of  Providence.  Is  absent,  do 
I  say  ?  Where  can  We  turn  our  eyes  without  seeing  her  ? 
Is  she  not  present  in  every  one's  thoughts  —  in  every  one's 
heart  ?  Nay,  may  she  not  be  virtually  present  ?  Do  the 
blessed  cease  to  be  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  human 
family  because  their  home  is  in  heaven  ?  Can  it  be  that, 
wherever  she  is,  she  should  not  desire  to  be  present  ?  And 
would  not  the  God  who  gave  her  strength  to  do  so  much  in 
this  place  for  his  glory  gratify  this  desire  also  ? 

But  if  Miss  Lyon  be  not  here  to-day,  her  works  are  ;  and 
they  show  us  impressively  for  what  purpose  Providence  raised 
30* 


354      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

her  up,  and  how  well  he  adapted  her  for  her  work.  Chron 
ological  dates  and  biographical  details  I  leave  to  others  ;  but 
the  great  lessons  of  providential  wisdom,  and  design,  and 
goodness  taught  by  her  history  I  must  not  pass  by. 

What,  then,  was  the  chief  object  or  objects  for  which  our 
lamented  friend  seemed  specially  adapted  by  nature  and  edu 
cation  ?  Every  one  will  doubtless  answer,  It  was  the  promo 
tion  of  female  education.  But  this  statement  is  too  general ; 
for  to  a  great  extent  her  labors  were  specific.  She  was, 
indeed,  an  eminent  teacher  of  the  young ,  and  this  seems  to 
me  the  first  great  object  for  which  Providence  fitted  her. 
But  there  were  some  marked  peculiarities  in  her  teaching; 
the  most  important  of  which  was  the  predominance  she  gave 
to  the  truths  of  religion  in  all  her  instructions.  The  second 
great  object  of  her  life  was  the  founding  and  management 
of  a  new  and  somewhat  peculiar  seminary.  Let  us  now  see 
what  there  was  in  her  nature,  and  in  the  preparatory  disci 
pline  through  which  she  passed,  that  adapted  her  for  the 
eminent  success  which  she  attained. 

And  here  I  ought  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  for 
many  facts  and  suggestions  to  those  ladies,  well  known  them 
selves  as  distinguished  teachers,  who  still  live,  and  were  long 
associated  with  Miss  Lyon  as  teachers  and  companions. 

But  I  may  be  allowed  to  add  that  it  is  no  second-hand  rep 
resentation  which  I  make,  but  one  founded  upon  a  personal 
and  intimate  acquaintance  of  more  than  thirty  years,  during 
which  my  house  was  frequently  made  her  home. 

We  will  frst  consider  Miss  Lyorfs  physical  adaptation  to 
the  work  assigned  her. 

God  gave  her  a  vigorous  and  well-balanced  physical  con 
stitution.  Her  stature  was  at  a  medium ;  the  muscular 
powers  were  displayed  in  great  strength  and  vigor  ;  the  vital 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      355 

apparatus  was  very  strong,  so  as  to  give  a  full  development 
to  the  whole  system,  and  impart  great  tenacity  of  life.  The 
brain  was  largely  developed,  and  in  proper  proportion  to 
produce  a  symmetrical  character.  The  nervous  system  was 
full,  yet  free  from  that  morbid  condition  which  in  so  many 
produces  irritation,  dejection,  or  unhealthy  buoyancy  of  the 
spirits  and  irregular  action  of  the  mind.  In  short,  all  the 
essential  corporeal  powers  were  developed  in  harmonious 
proportion.  You  could  not  say  that  any  of  the  marked  tem 
peraments  were  exhibited,  but  there  was  rather  a  blending  of 
them  all. 

Now,  just  such  a  physical  system  seemed  essential  to  the 
part  in  life  for  which  this  lady  was  destined.  Many,  indeed, 
have  been  distinguished  as  instructors  of  youth  whose  consti 
tutions  were  frail,  and  whose  shattered  nerves  thrilled  and 
vibrated  in  every  exigency.  But  Miss  Lyon  had  another 
office  besides  teaching  to  execute,  which  demanded  unshrink 
ing  nerves  and  great  power  of  endurance.  In  building  up  a 
new  seminary,  not  conformed  in  many  respects  to  the  pre 
vailing  opinions,  she  could  not  but  meet  many  things  most 
trying  to  persons  of  extreme  sensibility,  and  needing  an  iron 
constitution  to  breast  and  overcome. 

We  will  consider,  secondly,  Miss  Lyorfs  intellectual  adap 
tation  to  the  work  assigned  her. 

And  it  gives  a  just  view  of  the  character  of  her  mind  to 
say  that  it  corresponded  to  that  of  her  body  ;  that  is,  there 
was  a  full  development  of  all  the  powers,  with  no  undue  pre 
dominance  to  any  one  of  them.  It  were  easy  to  find  individ 
uals  more  distinguished  by  particular  characteristics,  but  not 
easy  to  find  one  where  the  powers  were  more  harmoniously 
balanced,  and  where,  as  a  whole,  the  mind  would  operate 
with  more  energy  and  efficiency.  She  did,  however,  exhibit 


356      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

some  mental  characteristics,  either  original  or  acquired,  more 
or  less  peculiar.  It  was,  for  example,  the  great  features  of 
a  subject  which  her  mind  always  seized  upon  first.  And 
when  she  had  got  a  clear  conception  of  these,  she  took  less 
interest  in  minute  details  ;  or,  rather,  her  mind  seemed  better 
adapted  to  master  fundamental  principles  than  to  trace  out 
minute  differences.  Just  as  the  conqueror  of  a  country  does 
not  think  it  necessary,  after  he  has  mastered  all  its  strong 
holds,  to  enter  every  habitation  to  see  if  some  private  door 
is  not  barred  against  him,  so  she  felt  confident  of  victory 
when  she  had  been  able  to  grasp  and  understand  the  princi 
ples  on  which  a  subject  rested.  Her  mind  would  work  like 
a  giant  when  tracing  out  the  history  of  redemption  with 
Edwards,  or  the  analogies  of  nature  to  religion  with  Butler, 
or  the  great  truths  of  theism  with  Chalmers  ;  but  it  would 
nod  over  the  pages  of  the  metaphysical  quibbler,  as  if  con 
scious  that  it  had  a  higher  destiny.  And  yet  this  did  not  re 
sult  from  an  inability  to  descend  to  the  details  of  a  science, 
when  necessary.  Else  how  could  she  have  so  long  and  so 
successfully  conducted  in  her  school  the  manipulation*  of  a 
chemical  laboratory,  or  have  kept  her  eye  so  keenly  open  to 
all  the  details  of  the  new  seminary,  or  even  of  ordinary  in 
struction,  for  so  many  years  ? 

The  inventive  faculties  were  also  very  fully  developed  in 
our  friend.  It  was  not  the  creations  of  fancy  merely,  such  as 
form  the  poet,  but  the  power  of  finding  means  to  accomplish 
important  ends.  Nor  was  it  invention  unbalanced  by  judg 
ment,  such  as  leads  many  to  attempt  schemes  impracticable 
and  quixotic.  For  rarely  did  she  attempt  any  thing  in  which 
she  did  not  succeed  ;  nor  did  she  undertake  it  till  her  clear 
judgment  told  her  that  it  would  succeed.  Then  it  mattered 
little  who  or  what  opposed.  At  first  she  hesitated,  especially 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      357 

when  any  plan  was  under  consideration  that  would  not  be 
generally  approved  ;  but  when,  upon  careful  examination,  she 
saw  clearly  its  practicability  and  importance,  she  nailed  the 
colors  to  the  mast ;  and  though  the  enemy's  fire  might  be 
terrific,  she  stood  calmly  at  her  post,  and  usually  saw  her 
opposers  lower  their  flag.  She  possessed  in  an  eminent 
degree  that  most  striking  of  all  the  characteristics  of  a  great 
mind,  viz.,  perseverance  under  difficulties.  When  thoroughly 
convinced  that  she  had  truth  on  her  side,  she  did  not  fear  to 
stand  alone  and  act  alone  —  patiently  waiting  for  the  hour 
when  others  would  see  the  subject  as  she  did.  This  was 
firmness,  not  obstinacy ;  for  no  one  was  more  open  to  convic 
tion  than  she  ;  but  her  conversion  must  result  from  stronger 
arguments,  not  from  fear  or  the  authority  of  names.  Had 
she  not  possessed  this  feature  of  character,  Mount  Holyoke 
Seminary  never  would  have  existed,  at  least  not  on  its  pres 
ent  plan.  The  peculiarity  of  its  domestic  arrangements, 
especially,  was  pronounced  injudicious  and  impracticable  by 
a  large  part  even  of  the  friends  of  female  education,  and 
made  a  subject  of  ridicule  by  the  enemies  of  the  institution. 
I  once  asked  a  judicious  friend,  who  was  opposed  to  this  fea 
ture,  how  long  the  experiment  must  be  successfully  tried 
before  he  would  believe  it  practicable.  Five  years,  said  he. 
Before  his  death  the  plan  had  been  in  successful  operation 
nearly  twice  that  time ;  and  yet  he  was  not  convinced.  It 
has  now  gone  on  prosperously  for  twelve  years ;  and  never 
were  the  prospects  of  its  continued  success  brighter  than  now. 
Like  every  thing  human,  it  may  be  changed  —  as  it  could 
be  without  endangering  the  prosperity  of  the  seminary.  But 
its  triumphant  success  for  one  third  of  a  generation  is  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  far-reaching  sagacity  and  accurate 
judgment  of  its  originator. 


358      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

Besides  this  seminary,  the  most  striking  example  of  the 
inventive  powers  of  our  friend  is  that  only  volume  which  she 
has  left  us,  —  I  mean  the  Missionary  Offering,  —  called  forth 
by  an  exigency  in  a  cause  which  she  dearly  loved,  and  whose 
most  striking  characteristic  is  its  missionary  spirit.  Yet  it  is, 
in  fact,  a  well-sustained  allegory,  demanding  for  its  composi 
tion  no  mean  powers  of  invention  and  imagination. 

Miss  Lyon  possessed  also  the  power  of  concentrating  the 
attention  and  enduring  long-continued  mental  labor  tin  an 
extraordinary  degree.  When  once  fairly  engaged  in  any 
important  subject,  —  literary,  scientific,  theological,  or  eco 
nomical,  —  there  seemed  to  be  no  irritated  nerves  or  truant 
thoughts  to  intrude  ;  nor  could  the  external  world  break  up 
her  almost  mesmeric  abstraction. 

This  almost  total  absorption  in  a  favorite  subject  did, 
indeed,  operate  sometimes  to  render  her  conversation  less 
inviting,  and  even  tedious,  to  others,  because  she  dwelt  upon 
a  subject  too  long  and  too  minutely  for  those  who  were  less 
interested.  I  think  this  was  one  of  her  defects  as  a  teacher ; 
for  the  best  instruction  consists  in  saying  just  enough  about  a 
subject  to  make  it  clear  and  impressive,  while  there  is  danger 
of  saying  so  much  as  to  confuse  and  mystify.  But  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  teaching  was  only  one  of  the  great 
objects  of  our  friend's  life.  And  this  power  of  concentra 
tion  and  absorption  was  essential  to  accomplish  the  other 
grand  objects  of  her  existence. 

It  has  been  also  complained,  and  probably  with  reason,  by 
those  in  feeble  health,  that  her  great  power  of  physical  and 
mental  endurance  led  her  to  expect  too  much  of  her  pupils. 
She  tried,  1  know,  to  guard  against  this  tendency,  being  well 
aware  how  natural  it  is  to  estimate  the  capabilities  of  others 
by  our  own.  And  it  should  also  be  known  that  it  was  not 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      359 

her  design  to  attempt  to  educate  those  of  feeble  constitution 
and  delicate  health,  though  she  did  not  object  to  others  making 
the  most  possible  of  such  greenhouse  plants.  But  she  aimed 
rather  to  provide  for  those  who  might  be  able  to  stand  in  the 
front  rank  in  the  great  battle  which  learning  and  religion 
have  to  sustain  with  ignorance  and  wickedness. 

Another  mental  characteristic  of  our  friend  was  her  great 
power  to  control  the  minds  of  others.  And  it  was  done,  too, 
without  their  suspecting  it  —  nay,  in  opposition  often  to  strong 
prejudice.  Before  you  were  aware,  her  well-woven  net  of 
argument  was  over  you,  and  so  soft  were  its  silken  meshes 
that  you  did  not  feel  them.  One  reason  was,  that  you  soon 
learned  that  the  fingers  of  love  and  knowledge  had  unitedly 
formed  the  web  and  woof  of  that  net.  You  saw  that  she 
knew  more  than  you  did  about  the  subject;  that  she  had 
thrown  her  whole  soul  into  it ;  that  in  urging  it  upon  you.  she 
was  actuated  by  benevolent  motives,  and  was  anxious  for 
your  good  ;  and  that  it  was  hazardous  for  you  to  resist  so 
much  light  and  love.  And  thus  it  was  that  many  a  refractory 
pupil  was  subdued,  and  many  an  individual  brought  to  aid  a 
cause  to  which  he  was  before  indifferent  or  opposed. 

Finally,  I  must  not  omit  to  mention  her  great  mental  energy 
and  invincible  perseverance.  That  energy  was  a  quiet  power, 
but  you  saw  that  it  had  giant  strength.  It  might  fail  of  suc 
cess  to-day ;  but  in  that  case,  it  calmly  waited  till  to-morrow. 
Nay,  a  score  of  failures  seemed  only  to  rouse  the  inventive 
faculty  to  devise  new  modes  of  operation ;  nor  would  the 
story  of  the  ant  that  fell  backward  sixty-nine  times  in  attempt 
ing  to  climb  a  wall,  and  succeeded  only  upon  the  seventieth 
trial,  be  an  exaggerated  representation  of  her  perseverance. 
Had  she  lacked  this  energy  and  perseverance,  she  might  have 
been  distinguished  in  something  else,  but  she  never  would 


360      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

have  been  the  founder  of  Mount  Holyoke  Female  Semi 
nary. 

But  I  hasten,  thirdly,  to  speak  of  her  religious  adaptation 
to  the  work  assigned  her. 

And  it  is  in  her  religious  character,  and  there  alone,  that 
we  shall  find  the  secret  and  the  powerful  spring  of  all  the 
efforts  of  her  life  which  she  would  wish  to  have  remembered. 
But  I  approach  this  part  of  her  character  with  a  kind  of  awe, 
as  if  I  were  on  holy  ground,  and  were  attempting  to  lay  open 
that  which  she  would  wish  never  revealed.  In  her  ordinary 
intercourse,  so  full  was  she  of  suggestions  and  plans  on  the 
subject  of  education,  and  of  her  new  seminary,  that  you 
would  not  suspect  how  deep  and  pure  was  the  fountain  of 
piety  in  her  heart,  nor  that  from  thence  the  waters  flowed  in 
which  all  her  plans  and  efforts  were  baptized  and  devoted  to 
God.  But  as,  accidentally,  for  the  last  thirty  years,  the  mo 
tives  of  her  actions  have  been  brought  to  light,  I  have  been 
every  year  more  deeply  impressed  with  their  Christian  disin 
terestedness,  and  with  the  entireness  of  her  consecration  to 
God.  Without  a  knowledge  of  this  fact,  a  stranger  would 
mistake  for  selfishness  the  earnestness  and  exclusiveness  with 
which  she  often  urged  the  interests  of  this  seminary.  But  in 
the  light  of  this  knowledge,  the  apparent  selfishness  is  trans 
muted  into  sacred  Christian  love.  Her  whole  life,  indeed, 
for  many  years  past,  has  seemed  to  me  to  be  only  a  bright 
example  of  missionary  devotedness  and  missionary  labor.  1 
have  never  met  with  the  individual  who  seemed  to  me  more 
ready  to  sacrifice  even  life  in  a  good  cause  than  she  was ; 
and  had  that  sacrifice  been  necessary  for  securing  the  estab 
lishment  of  her  favorite  seminary,  cheerfully  and  without  a 
moment's  hesitation,  do  I  believe,  she  would  have  laid  down 
her  life.  I  would,  indeed,  by  no  means  represent  her  as  an 


t. 

CHAPTER    IN    THE    BOOK    OF    PfcOVJJ>Eirci'   Jt        ,361 


example  of  Christian  perfection.  I 
injustice  to  her  own  convictions.  But  since 
looked  back  over  the  whole  of  my  long  acquaintance"  "with 
her,  in  almost  every  variety  of  circumstance,  to  see  if  I  could 
recollect  an  instance  in  which  she  spoke  of  any  individual  in 
such  a  way  as  to  indicate  feelings  not  perfectly  Christian,  or 
if  I  could  discover  any  lurkings  of  inordinate  worldly  ambi 
tion,  or  traces  of  sinful  pride,  or  envy,  or  undue  excitement, 
or  disposition  to  shrink  from  duty,  or  of  unwillingness  to 
make  any  sacrifices  which  God  demanded;  and  I  confess 
that  the  tablet  of  memory  furnishes  not  a  single  example. 
What  I  considered  errors  of  judgment  I  can  indeed  remember, 
but  not  any  moral  obliquity  in  feeling  or  action.  They  doubt 
less  existed  ;  but  it  needed  nicer  moral  vision  than  I  possess 
to  discover  them. 

I  ought  to  add,  that  this  eminence  of  Christian  character 
was  founded  upon  a  clear  apprehension  of  biblical  principles. 
She  thoroughly  understood  and  cordially  embraced  the  doc- 
trines  of  the  Puritans,  just  as  they  lie  in  their  massive  strength 
in   the   Bible  —  not   as  they   often   come   forth,  alloyed   and 
weakened,  from   the   moulds  of  a  self-confident  philosophy. 
To  study  these  truths  was  her  delight.     To  explain  them  to 
her  pupils  was  one  of  her  most  successful  efforts  as  a  teacher. 
Would   that   I  could    present  on   canvas  the  picture  of  Miss 
Lyon,  as  it  lies  in  my  memory,  when  she  was  engaged  on 
the  Sabbath  in  the  study  of  Christian  truth.     I  have  frequently 
seen  individuals  in  the  somnambulic  arid  mesmeric  state,  but 
none  of  them  apparently  more  unconscious  to  external  scenes 
that   she  was  when   thus  absorbed   in   the   contemplation  of 
divine  truth.     Would  that  she  had  left  us  some  delineation  of 
her  views  and  feelings  in  these  biblical  trances,  and  still  more 
of  those  exercises  of  soul  in  her  nearer  approaches  to  God, 
31 


362  A    CHAPTER    iy    THE    BOOK    OF    PROVIDENCE. 

when  away  from  every  eye  but  the  divine.  But  she  had  a 
strong  aversion  to  religious  diaries,  and  was  probably  uncon 
scious  of  any  thing  in  her  experience  that  would  benefit  the 
world,  if  left  on  record. 

There  were  two  religious  principles  which  exerted  an  over 
mastering  influence  upon  Miss  Lyon's  character.  One  was  a 
sense  of  personal  responsibility ;  the  other,  trust  in  an  over 
ruling  Providence.  As  the  Saviour,  when  he  went  up  to 
Jerusalem  for  the  last  time,  with  all  his  sufferings  full  in 
view,  advanced  before  his  disciples,  as  if  in  haste  to  suffer,  so 
did  she,  when  duty  called,  never  wait  for  others,  but  was  ever 
ready  to  precede  them,  and  measure  the  amount  of  her  sac 
rifices,  donations,  and  efforts  by  her  sense  of  duty,  rather 
than  by  the  example  of  others.  And  it  was  this  sense  of  per 
sonal  responsibility  which  she  urged  always  upon  her  pupils, 
and  with  great  success.  So  strong,  too,  was  her  faith  in  a 
special  Providence,  that  delay  and  discomfiture  in  the  execu 
tion  of  her  favorite  plans  produced  little  or  no  discourage 
ment,  but  led  her  merely  to  inquire  more  carefully  whether 
there  was  not  something  wrong  in  her  or  her  plans  which 
occasioned  the  delay ;  and  having  done  all  she  could,  she 
would -wait  long  and  cheerfully  for  the  divine  manifestation. 
And  so  often  had  she  witnessed  interpositions  in  her  behalf 
almost  miraculous,  that  her  faith  might  often  be  seen*  steady 
and  buoyant  when  that  of  others  had  yielded  to  appalling  dif 
ficulties  and  dangers. 

As  the  result  of  such  principles  and  such  piety,  the  stan 
dard  of  Miss  Lyon's  personal  efforts  and  sacrifices  in  every 
good  cause  was  so  high  as  to  put  to  shame  the  measure  of 
duty  which  most  Christians  adopt.  I  am  assured,  on  the  best 
authority,  that  the  amount  of  money  which  she  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  benevolence  was  more  than  double  all  which  she 


A  CHAPTER  IN'  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.       363 

expended  for  herself,  excepting  her  board.  What  a  bright 
example  for  imitation !  and  what  blessed  results  should  we 
witness  if  one  in  ten  among  Christians  were  to  come  up  to 
such  a  standard  !  Some  have  sneered  at  her  rigid  economy 
as  if  it  were  parsimonious  and  unbecoming.  But  in  the  fact 
just  stated  we  see  the  motive  of  her  economy.  And  let  those 
who  would  censure  wait  till  their  standard  of  beneficence  is 
as  high  as  hers  before  they  condemn  the  only  means  by 
which  she  reached  such  a  standard. 

Another  blessed  result  of  her  elevated  piety  was  the  almost- 
constant  presence,  in  the  schools  which  she  taught,  of  that 
special  divine  influence  which  brings  about  the  conversion  of 
souls.  She  lived,  it  is  said,  to  witness  nearly  thirty  special 
revivals  of  religion  in  all  her  life,  and  not  less  than  eleven  in 
the  twelve  years'  life  of  her  new  seminary  —  many  of  them 
surpassing,  in  the  comparative  number  of  converts,  almost 
any  revivals  which  I  have  ever  heard  of  in  any  other  com 
munity.  Indeed,  it  was  almost  an  uninterrupted  display  of 
divine  converting  power.  And  yet  so  busy  and  enthusiastic 
in  literary  instruction  were  Miss  Lyon  and  the  admirable 
band  of  teachers  which  she  knew  how  to  gather  around  her, 
that  you  would  hardly  have  thought  of  the  existence  of  that 
deep  under  current  of  piety,  which  seemed  to  flow  from  the 
river  of  God,  and  to  refresh  the  whole  landscape.  But  the 
current  was  always  there,  deep  and  strong ;  and  thence  came 
the  power  that  kept  the  windows  of  heaven  always  open. 

We  will  inquire,  finally,  into  the  adaptation  of  the  disci 
pline  through  which  Miss  Lyon  passed  to  fit  her  for  her  work. 

And  by  discipline  I  mean  all  the  circumstances  of  her 
birth  and  education.  We  have  seen  that  God  gave  her  a 
sound  mind  in  a  sound  body.  But  without  cultivation,  they 
would  have  been  onlv  as  metal  in  the  ore,  or  marble  in  the 


364      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

quarry.  Therefore  God  placed  her  in  circumstances  appro 
priate  to  the  desired  discipline.  He  brought  her  into  exist 
ence  in  the  alpine  regions  of  Massachusetts,  where  the  pure 
water  from  the  rock,  and  the  atmosphere  uncontaminated  by 
pestilential  miasms,  send  health  bounding  through  the  veins  ; 
where  the  deep  ravines,  the  broad  mountain  slopes,  and  the 
vast  prospects  that  stretch  away  almost  inimitably  over  a  sea 
of  mountains  elevate  and  expand  the  soul,  and  fit  it  for  large 
and  ennobling  plans  and  purposes.  There,  too,  away  from 
the  vices  of  a  dense  population,  a  religious  influence  predom 
inates,  and  the  manners,  habits,  and  piety  are  in  an  unsophis 
ticated  state.  In  those  plain  and  humble  dwellings  which  city 
opulence  might  suppose  the  abodes  of  poverty,  you  will,  for 
the  most  part,  find  the  answer  to  Agar's  prayer,  Give  me 
neither  poverty  nor  riches.  The  parents  of  Miss  Lyon  were 
just  in  that  state  of  moderate  competence  (not  of  deep  pov 
erty,  as  has  been  represented)  which  enabled  them  to  make 
their  daughter  comfortable  and  happy  at  home  with  industry 
and  economy,  but  which  could  not  provide  for  her  education 
abroad.  But  they  possessed  one  thing  of  far  higher  value, 
and  that  was  devoted  piety ;  and  their  prayers  and  labors  for 
their  daughter  were  rewarded  by  her  conversion.  That 
happy  home  she  has  vividly  described  in  her  Missionary 
Offering  —  the  dying  scene  of  the  beloved  father,  and  "  the 
extraordinary  prayers  of  the  sorrowing  mother "  during 
"  that  first  cold  winter  of  widowhood."  Ah,  it  may  be  that 
the  father  was  taken  away  in  order  to  excite  those  prayers, 
and  that  they  were  necessary  in  God's  plans  to  the  future 
eminent  usefulness  of  the  daughter ;  and  that,  on  the  heav 
enly  Mount  Zion,  they  are  now  rejoicing  in  the  retrospect  of 
God's  providence. 

The  marked  preeminence  of  the  young  Mary  soon  raised 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      365 

up  for  her  benefactors  who  aided  her,  though  she  had  to 
depend  mainly  upon  her  own  exertions.  After  a  time  she 
joined  the  school  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson,  at  Byfield. 
That  gentleman's  views  and  plans  of  female  education  seem 
to  have  been  a  good  deal  in  advance  of  his  times,  and  doubt 
less  his  instructions  contributed  largely  to  give  the  right 
direction  to  Mary's  mind.  But  at  that  school,  twenty-eight 
years  ago,  she  came  under  the  influence  of  an  individual  — 
an  assistant  teacher  then,  and  afterwards  through  life  an  inti 
mate  friend  —  who  probably  had  more  to  do  in  the  formation 
of  her  character,  and  especially  in  fitting  her  to  become  the 
founder  of  a  new  institution,  than  any  other  person  —  I  had 
almost  said,  than  all  others.  That  lady  was  Miss  Z.  (X  Grant ; 
concerning  whom,  as  she  is  still  living,  propriety  forbids  me 
to* say  all  that  I  could  wish.  But  I  may  say  that  under  no 
influence  could  Miss  Lyon  have  corne  better  adapted  to  pre 
pare  her  for  her  work  than  that  of  one  so  fitted  by  nature,  by 
education,  and  by  grace  to  be  a  pioneer  and  a  guide  in  im 
proving  and  elevating  the  system  of  female  education.  It  was 
during  their  connection  at  Byfield  two  years,  at  Deny,  New 
Hampshire,  five  years,  and  an  equal  period  at  Ipswich,  that 
the  leading  principles  on  which  the  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary 
was  founded  were  suggested,  discussed,  and  prayed  over,  and, 
what  is  more  important,  were  experimentally  tested  —  so  far, 
at  least,  as  the  mode  of  instruction  was  concerned. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  whole  course  of  Miss  Lyon's  life, 
and  all  the  circumstances  in  which  she  was  placed,  were  only 
a  continued  school  of  discipline  for  the  work  assigned  her. 
She  could  not  have  seen  the  bearing  of  events  at  the  time 
they  happened  ;  but,  from  the  standpoint  which  we  occupy, 
%ve  can  see  how  almost  every  minute  and  often  seemingly 
casual  circumstance  in  her  history  was  important  to  the  final 
31* 


366      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

and  full  development.  The  guiding  hand  of  God's  provi 
dence  is  almost  as  distinct  as  when  it  went  before  the  Israel 
ites  in  their  journeyings  in  a  cloud  by  day  and  a  pillar  of  fire 
by  night.  This  will  be  the  more  obvious  if  we  contemplate 
for  a  moment  the  manner  in  which  the  two  grand  leading 
objects  of  her  life  were  accomplished. 

Upon  her  character  as  a  teacher  I  need  not  dwell,  because 
it  is  so  generally  known  and  appreciated.  Not  less  than  three 
thousand  pupils  have  passed  under  the  moulding  influence  of 
her  mind ;  and  it  was  not  an  influence  to  be  easily  forgotten 
or  shaken  off.  It  came  from  the  depths  of  the  soul,  and  went 
into  the  depths  of  the  soul,  unless  resisted  by  a  perverseriess 
rarely  found  among  respectable  young  ladies.  It  has  been 
objected,  indeed,  to  her  discipline,  that  it  was  too  stern  and 
uncompromising ;  and  that  many  of  the  minor  graces  and 
elegant  accomplishments,  which  give  a  charm  to  female  love 
liness,  were  too  much  neglected.  She  may  have  erred  in  this 
respect ;  for  she  had  become  disgusted  with  the  too  frequent 
substitution,  in  female  education,  of  artificial  for  unsophisti 
cated  manners,  and  of  superficial  and  showy  accomplishments 
for  substantial  and  practically  useful  acquisitions.  She  never 
felt  called  to  study  or  to  teach  the  technicalities  and  formali 
ties  of  fashionable  life;  and  she  placed  in  nearly  the  same 
category  some  accomplishments  which  are  generally  regarded 
with  much  favor  —  such  as  painting,  embroidery,  music,  and 
the  like  ;  or,  rather,  she  transferred  these  subjects  from  the 
first  rank,  which  they  had  long  occupied,  to  the  last  in  impor 
tance.  Whether  the  system  of  manners  which  she  taught 
and  exhibited  would  be  popular  in  the  refined  circles  of  Paris, 
or  London,  or  New  York,  I  know  not.  But  I  do  know  that 
she  inculcated  and  exemplified  that  fundamental  principle  of 
all  good  Christian  manners,  that  we  should  treat  all  men  with 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      367 

kindness,  because  we  feel  kindly  towards  them  in  our  hearts. 
Such  manners  were  always  acted  out,  as  her  numerous 
friends  can  testify,  in  her  truly  hospitable  home  in  this  place. 
But  if  any  parents  felt  dissatisfied  with  this  Christian  educa 
tion  and  Christian  politeness,  and  preferred  a  fashionable 
education  for  their  daughters,  Miss  Lyon  did  not  aspire  to  be 
their  teacher,  nor  felt  emulous  of  the  laurels  that  might  be 
won  in  such  a  field.  It  was  enough  for  her  if  she  could  send 
forth  pupils  with  minds  well  disciplined  and  stored  with 
knowledge,  with  physical  constitutions  invigorated  by  exer 
cise,  temperance,  and  the  practice  of  all  other  important 
hygienic  laws,  and  with  hearts  glowing  with  a  desire  to  do 
good.  And  when  we  recollect  that  nearly  three  thousand 
such,  scattered  over  the  whole  face  of  the  globe,  still  survive, 
what  an  impression  do  we  get  of  the  mighty  work  which  this 
single  woman  has  accomplished,  and  of  the  vast  influence  she 
is  at  this  moment  exerting  upon  the  human  family  !  * 

*  I  am  indebted  to  Mrs.  Banister  (Miss  Z.  O.  Grant)  for  the  following 
statement  of  the  fundamental  principles  on  which,  in  her  opinion,  Miss 
Lyon's  superior  skill  in  teaching  was  founded.  It  is  interesting  to  observe 
the  thoroughly  Christian  character  of  these  principles. 

"  Some  of  Miss  Lyon's  excellences  as  an  educator  consisted,  — 

"  In  her  knowledge  and  love  of  the  character  and  government  of  God. 

"  In  her  knowledge  of  the  human  mind  —  its  capacities ;  its  destiny ;  of 
the  effects  of  habits,  and  the  way  to  form  them  aright ;  of  the  relation  of 
the  human  mind  to  its  Creator  and  to  its  fellow-creatures,  and  of  the  obliga 
tions  growing  out  of  those  relations. 

"  In  her  entire  and  cordial  reception  of  the  Bible  as  a  revelation  of  God 
to  man  ;  in  her  knowledge  and  love  of  this  blessed  book. 

"  In  having  the  first  and  second  table  of  the  moral  law  written  on  her 
heart ;  in  her  peculiar  facility  in  leading  others  to  an  intellectual  under 
standing  of  this  law. 

"  In  her  deep  appreciation  of  the  gospel  as  opening  a  way  for  the  salva 
tion  of  the  lost ;  her  living  faith  in  all  its  truths  —  especially  in  Him  who  is 

1  ,';.<•  tl'Uth. 


368      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

But  there  was  another  work,  still  more  difficult  to  execute, 
and  probably  more  important  in  its  effects,  which  she  accom 
plished  ;  and  that  was,  to  found,  or  rather  create,  the  Mount 
Holyoke  Seminary.  A  minute  history  of  that  undertaking, 
from  its  inception  to  its  completion,  would  show  how  wonder 
fully  Miss  Lyon  and  all  concerned  in  it  were  prepared  and 
led  along  by  an  overruling  Providence.  But  justice  to  my 
subject  and  to  the  principal  agents  will  not  allow  me  to  pass 
it  entirely  over. 

The  prominent  features  of  the  Mount  Holyoke  Female 
Seminary,  as  it  was  ultimately  established,  and  by  which  it 
differed  from  any  other  in  New  England,  were  the  following. 
I  do  not  mean  that  in  no  other  institution  have  they  been 
introduced  partially  ;  but  here  alone  have  they  been  fully 
carried  out  and  brought  into  harmonious  action. 

1.  This  seminary  is  permanently  endowed. 

2.  From  its  foundation  to  its  topstone,  it  was  carried  for 
ward  by  an  appeal  to  Christian  benevolence  ;  and  the  donors 
were  not  encouraged  to  expect  any  other  reward  than  that 
which  springs  from  doing  good.     Many  judicious  friends  did 
not  believe  it  possible  to  procure  the   means  on  such  exclu 
sively  benevolent  principles.     But  it  was  done  triumphantly. 

3.  Hence,  thirdly,  no  one  connected  with  the  seminary  as 

"  In  her  glowing  benevolence  to  all  for  whom  Christ  died. 

"  In  her  burning  zeal  to  do  all  in  her  power  towards  extending  the  knowl 
edge  of  the  Redeemer  to  every  creature. 

"In  her  understanding  and  heartfelt  sense  of  the  necessity  of  bringing 
great  and  unalterable  truths  in  contact  with  the  human  mind  in  a  way  suited 
to  produce  their  legitimate  effects. 

"in  a  practical  belief  that  what  ought  to  be  done  can  be  done. 

"  In  a  deep  sense  that,  without  God's  blessing,  all  will  be  in  vain. 

"  In  an  abiding  reliance  on  God,  and  a  cheerful  expectation  of  his  bless- 
ing." 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      369 

trustee,  teacher,  steward,  or  benefactor  has  any  pecuniary 
interest  in  it,  except  that  some  receive  a  small  fixed  salary. 

4.  Hence,  fourthly,  the  charges  to  the  pupils  could  be  put 
at  a  very  low  rate  —  not  more  than  one  third  of  the  expense 
usually  incurred  at  our  best  female  seminaries  where  a  simi 
lar  course  of  study  is  gone  through. 

5.  Hence,   fifthly,  instruction   in   doctrinal  and    practical 
evangelical  religion  could  be  made,  as  it  ever  has  been,  the 
most  prominent  feature  of  the  institution,  without  any  influ 
ence   from  that  worldly  policy  which,  under  the  name   of 
excluding  sectarianism,  shuts  out  all  religion  of  any  practical 
value. 

6.  All  connected  with  the  school  constitute  but  a  single 
family. 

7.  The  domestic  affairs  are  all  managed  by  the  members. 
The  germ  of  this  seminary  may  probably  be   found  in  a 

remark  made  by  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson  to  Miss  Grant  (now 
Mrs.  Banister)  in  1823,  when  advising  her  to  take  charge  of 
the  Adams  Female  Academy  in  Derry,  New  Hampshire  : 
"  If  you  can  put  into  operation,"  said  he,  "  a  permanent 
school  on  right  principles,  you  may  well  afford  to  give  up 
your  life  whenever  you  have  done  it."  It  was  the  hope  of 
realizing  this  thought  that  induced  that  lady  to  take  charge  of 
the  Adams  school,  where  for  five  years  she  labored,  with 
Miss  Lyon,  to  accomplish  this  object,  and  another  five  years 
in  the  same  school  removed  to  Ipswich.  It  was  not,  however, 
till  they  had  been  two  years  at  Ipswich  —  that  is,  in  1830  — 
that  Miss  Lyon  could  believe  it  possible,  however  desirable, 
to  obtain  means  for  a  permanent  institution.  At  length,  how 
ever,  she  saw  its  importance ;  and  the  two  ladies  labored 
together  for  a  year  or  two  to  find  a  permanent  residence  for 
their  school,  which  they  intended  should  be  adapted  for 


370      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

bringing  the  higher  and  middle  classes  together.  But  at  this 
time  the  health  of  Miss  Grant  failed,  and  she  went  away. 
Before  she  was  again  able  to  resume  her  place,  all  hopes  of 
bringing  about  this  specific  object  were  abandoned,  and  all 
associations,  whether  called  committees  or  trustees,  were  dis 
solved  ;  though  Miss  Grant  still  clung,  as  with  a  death  grasp, 
to  her  favorite  idea  of  permanency. 

But  though  Miss  Lyon  thus  yielded  to  this  providential 
blasting  of  her  hopes,  yet  as  she  mused  and  prayed  over  the 
subject,  her  interest  deepened  ;  and  this  probably  was  the 
object  of  Providence  in  the  disappointment ;  for  success  de 
manded  a  spirit  ready  for  any  labor  and  any  sacrifice.  Sev 
eral  new  projects  occupied  her  attention,  and  she  became 
more  and  more  impressed  with  the  desire  of  laboring  for  the 
middle  and  more  indigent  classes  of  society.  This  led  her  to 
devise  every  possible  mode  of  lessening  the  expenses  of  the 
new  seminary  ;  and  among  the  rest,  to  the  plan  of  having  the 
domestic  affairs  managed  by  the  inmates  of  the  school.  She 
at  last  made  up  her  mind  to  leave  her  present  place  as  teacher 
at  Ipswich,  and  go  forth  and  see  whether  Providence  would 
open  any  way  for  accomplishing  her  favorite  object ;  although 
for  a  time  it  was  doubtful  whether  she  or  Miss  Grant,  whom 
she  still  consulted,  should  take  this  course.  Indeed,  she 
seemed  as  yet  to  be  very  much  in  the  dark  as  to  the  way  in 
which  she  was  to  go,  and  did  not  expect  such  results  as  she 
lived  to  witness.  In  a  letter  to  Miss  Grant,  dated  March  1, 
1833,  she  thus  remarks  :  — 

"  For  myself,  if  I  should  separate  from  you,  I  have  no  defi 
nite  plan ;  but  my  thoughts,  feelings,  and  judgment  are 
turned  towards  the  middle  classes  of  society.  For  this  class 
I  want  to  labor,  and  for  this  class  I  consider  myself  rather 
peculiarly  fitted  to  labor.  To  this  class  in  society  would  I 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      371 

devote  directly  all  the  remainder  of  my  strength,  (God  per 
mitting  ;)  not  to  the  higher  classes,  not  to  the  poorer  classes. 
The  middle  class  contains  the  main  springs  and  main  wheels 
which  are  to  move  the  world.  Whatever  field  I  should  oc 
cupy,  it  must  be  a  humble,  laborious  work.  How  I  could  get 
a  footing  sufficiently  firm  for  my  feet  to  rest  upon  the  re 
mainder  of  my  days,  where  my  hands  could  work,  I  know 
not.  But  by  wandering  about  a  year  or  two,  perhaps  Provi 
dence  might  open  the  door.  I  should  seek  for  nothing  per 
manent  after  my  decease  as  to  the  location  of  my  labors ;  but 
I  should  consider  it  desirable  that  I  should  occupy  but  one 
more  field,  that  I  should  make  but  one  more  remove,  till  I 
remove  into  my  grave." 

What  a  beautiful  development  of  Christian  character  does 
this  extract  present!  What  a  waiting  upon  God,  and  confi 
dence  in  his  providence  !  How  and  where  she  could  get  a 
foothold  to  labor  she  knew  not ;  "  but  by  wandering  about  a 
year  or  two,  perhaps  Providence  might  open  the  door."  How 
does  such  faith  remind  us  of  that  other  servant  of  God,  who, 
when  he  was  called  to  go  out  into  a  place  which  he  should 
after  receive  for  an  inheritance,  obeyed ;  and  he  went  out, 
not  knowing  whither  he  went.  What  humility  and  readiness 
to  labor  is  here  shown !  "  Whatever  field  I  should  occupy,  it 
must  be  a  humble  and  laborious  work."  Yet  what  holy 
sagacity  is  exhibited  in  strongly  desiring  to  labor  for  the  mid 
dle  classes,  because  "  they  are  the  main  springs  and  main 
wheels  to  move  the  world  "  !  That  is,  she  wished  to  labor 
where  her  efforts  would  do  the  most  good.  And  finally,  what 
perfect  freedom  from  the  ambition  of  having  her  name  at 
tached  to  some  great  institution,  by  which  many  have  sup 
posed  she  was  actuated  in  her  severe  labors  !  "  I  should  seek 
for  nothing  permanent  after  my  decease  as  to  the  location  of 


372      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

my  labors."  How  evident  that  such  a  state  of  mind  was  just 
the  one  that  was  needed  for  the  herculean  task  of  founding 
this  institution  !  and  how  obviously  it  was  the  natural  result  of 
that  long  and  severe  discipline  through  which  she  had  passed  ! 
Could  we  have  looked  forward  to  the  results  which  are  be 
fore  us  to-day,  it  would  indeed  have  been  a  scene  of  high 
moral  sublimity  to  have  seen  this  female  going  forth  on  this 
great  enterprise  almost  single-handed.  I  well  remember  the 
first  meeting,  in  this  part  of  Massachusetts,  of  some  eight  or 
ten  friends  of  education,  which  was  held  at  my  house  to  hear 
her  statements.  We  saw  the  object,  indeed,  to  be  a  noble 
one,  and  therefore  we  could  not  but  wish  it  God  speed  ;  and 
the  address  to  the  public,  which  that  meeting  called  forth, 
signed  by  John  Todd,  Joseph  Penney,  and  Roswell  Hawks, 
did,  indeed,  express  confidence  in  its  ultimate  success ;  but  I 
fear,  that  had  there  not  been  faith  somewhere  else  stronger 
than  ours,  the  walls  of  this  seminary  would  not  yet  have 
risen.  Nevertheless,  she  who  was  willing  to  wait  one  or  two 
years  to  see  if  some  door  would  not  open,  could  discover  a 
bow  of  promise  where  others  saw  only  a  black  cloud. 
Svadily  did  she  move  onward  in  the  work,  cheered  by  the 
slightest  indication  of  success,  and  undiscouraged  by  ridicule, 
hostility,  and  discomfiture.  And  it  was  not  mere  indifference 
which  she  had  to  meet ;  but  respectable  periodicals  appeared, 
charged  with  sarcasm  and  enmity  to  her  plans.  So  ungener 
ous  did  some  of  these  attacks  seem,  that  I  volunteered  a  de 
fence,  and  consulted  her  as  to  its  publication.  I  found  her 
entirely  unruffled  by  these  attacks,  and  without  any  personal 
feeling  in  respect  to  a  vindication.  She  did  not  object  to  the 
spirit  or  style  of  my  defence,  and  I  left  it  in  her  hands,  to  be 
published,  if  she  thought  it  best.  But  that  is  the  last  I  ever 
heard  or  saw  of  it. 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      373 

I  need  not  further  detail  the  progress  of  this  work  to  its 
completion,  because  it  is  too  familiar  to  most  of  those  who 
hear  me.  It  was,  indeed,  a  long,  and  sometimes  apparently 
a  doubtful  struggle  ;  and  faith  less  firm  than  that  of  the  pre 
siding  genius  of  this  enterprise  would  often  have  given  out. 
But  remarkable  wisdom  seemed  to  have  been  given  her  in  the 
formation  of  her  plans,  and  in  the  selection  of  agents  and 
guardians.  She  lived  to  see  not  less  than  sixty  thousand  dol 
lars  contributed  by  the  Christian  public  ;  yonder  noble  edifice 
erected,  with  its  accommodations  for  two  hundred  pupils ;  the 
debts  of  the  institution  all  liquidated  ;  and  the  whole  plan  in 
successful  operation  for  twelve  years ;  during  which  sixteen 
hundred  young  ladies  enjoyed  its  privileges,  and  eleven  re 
vivals  of  religion  stamped  the  seal  of  God's  approbation  upon 
the  enterprise  and  the  institution.  How  much  larger  these 
results  than  the  anticipations  of  its  founder  when  she  said, 
"  I  should  seek  for  nothing  permanent  after  my  decease  "  ! 
and  what  a  lesson  of  encouragement  to  all  those  who  are 
waiting  in  patient  faith  and  hope  to  know  what  God  will  have 
them  do  ! 

Such  was  Miss  Lyon  ;  such  the  discipline  through  which 
she  was  made  to  pass  to  fit  her  for  her  work  ;  and  such  the 
magnificent  results.  We  are  amazed  when  we  look  back  at 
the  amount  and  magnitude  of  her  labors.  Very  few  females 
have  done  so  much  for  the  world  while  they  lived,  or  have 
left  so  rich  a  legacy  when  they  died.  Nor  is  the  fair  picture 
marred  by  dark  stains,  save  those  of  microscopic  littleness. 
From  the  days  of  her  childhood  to  the  time  of  her  death,  all 
her  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  powers  were  concentrated 
upon  some  useful  and  noble  object,  while  selfishness  and  self- 
gratification  seem  never  to  have  stood  at  all  in  the  way,  or  to 
have  retarded  the  fervid  wheels  of  benevolence.  I  cannot, 
32 


374      A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

therefore,  believe  that  it  is  the  partiality  of  personal  friend 
ship  which  leads  me  to  place  Miss  Lyon  among  the  most  re 
markable  women  of  her  generation.  Her  history,  too,  shows 
the  guiding  hand  of  special  Providence  almost  as  strikingly  as 
the  miraculous  history  of  Abraham,  of  Moses,  of  Elijah,  or 
of  Paul.  O,  it  tells  us  all  how  blessed  it  is  to  trust  Providence 
implicitly  when  we  are  trying  to  do  good,  though  the  darkness 
be  so  thick  around  us  that  we  cannot  see  forward  one  hand's 
breadth,  and  bids  us  advance  with  as  confident  a  step  as  if 
all  were  light  before  us. 

This  picture,  too,  is  a  complete  one.  Her  life  was  neither 
too  long  nor  too  short.  She  died  at  the  right  time,  with  her 
armor  on  and  yet  bright.  But  her  friends  saw  that,  strong  as 
her  constitution  naturally  was,  it  was  giving  way  under  such 
severe  and  protracted  labor,  and  the  infirmities  of  declining 
years  beginning  to  show  themselves  even  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
two.  But  with  her  Saviour  she  could  say,  "  I  have  finished 
the  work  which  Thou  (God)  gavest  me  to  do."  All  her  im 
portant  plans  had  been  carried  into  successful  operation,  and 
tested  by  long  experiment ;  and  the  institution  was  in  the 
right  condition  to  be  committed  to  other  hands.  She  had  also 
of  late  been  rapidly  ripening  for  another  sphere  of  labor. 
One  of  her  friends,  who  had  been  more  intimately  connected 
with  her  for  several  years  past  than  any  other,  when  at  a  dis 
tance  she  heard  of  her  sickness,  felt  confident  that  it  would 
be  unto  death ;  for  she  had  known  how,  for  some  months 
previous,  her  friend  had  been  feeding  daily  on  manna,  and 
pluming  her  wings  for  her  upward  flight.  Severe,  therefore, 
as  her  removal  seemed,  when  first  announced,  it  happened 
just  at  the  right  time,  and  I  cannot  wish  to  call  her  back. 
But  I  do  feel,  and  many  who  hear  me,  I  doubt  not,  feel  it  too, 
—  I  do  feel  a  strong  desire  to  be  borne  upward,  on  an  angel's 


A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  PROVIDENCE.      375 

wing,  to  the  Mount  Zion  where  she  now  dwells,  and  to  hear 
her  describe,  in  the  glowing  language  of  heaven,  the  wonders 
of  Providence,  as  manifested  in  her  own  earthly  course,  as 
they  now  appear  in  the  bright  transparencies  of  heaven.  Yet 
further,  I  long  to  hear  her  describe  the  still  wider  plans  she 
is  now  devising  and  executing  for  the  good  of  the  universe 
and  the  glory  of  God  ;  and  how  admirably  her  earthly  disci 
pline  fitted  her  for  a  nobler  field  of  labor  above  ;  so  that  those 
providences  which  appear  to  us  to  have  been  consummated  on 
earth,  were  in  fact  only  a  necessary  means  of  adapting  her 
to  a  work  which  shall  fill  and  delight  all  her  powers  through 
out  eternal  ages.  Gladly,  too,  would  I  listen  to  her  intensely 
earnest  inquiries  respecting  her  beloved  seminary  and  friends 
on  earth,  and  learn  whether,  in  some  way  unknown  to  us, 
she  may  not  be  still  able  to  administer  to  their  welfare.  O, 
how  sweet,  too,  would  it  be,  could  we  listen  to  that  rapturous 
song  of  praise,  which  ever  and  anon  she  would  pour  forth  to 
her  Redeemer,  as  his  glories  strike  her  eye,  or  his  past  kind 
ness  touches  a  chord  of  gratitude  in  her  heart. 

But  alas  !  how  vain  are  all  such  aspirations  !  And  yet,  my 
Christian  friends,  if  we  are  faithful  to  God  and  duty  as  she 
was,  in  a  very  few  days  all  this  intercourse  and  communion 
will  be  a  reality.  Some  of  us  may  not,  indeed,  be  able  to 
sound  so  lofty  a  note  of  praise  as  our  glorified  friend,  but  our 
song  and  our  communion  shall  nevertheless  be  the  music  and 
the  intercourse  of  heaven ;  and  that  will  be  enough. 


WASTE  OF  MIND. 


WHAT  more,  or  better,  on  the  subject  of  female  education, 
can  be  said,  than  has  been  presented  by  the  distinguished 
gentlemen  who  have  occupied  this  place  on  former  anniver 
sary  occasions  ?  This  was  my  involuntary  inquiry,  when 
invited  to  address  this  audience  to-day ;  and  it  would  have 
decided  me  to  decline  the  honor,  had  not  another  inquiry  been 
started  :  Why  is  it  necessary  that  these  addresses  should  bo 
confined  to  the  subject  of  female  education  ?  Why  should 
not  the  speaker  be  allowed  the  same  wide  field  in  which  to 
choose  his  subject,  as  is  given  to  those  who  address  .young 
men  in  our  colleges,  at  their  annual  commencements  ?  I 
adopt  the  opinion  that  such  ought  to  be  the  case,  and  shall  act 
accordingly  on  the  present  occasion,  leaving  it  to  my  succes 
sors  to  follow  my  example  or  not,  as  they  shall  prefer. 

The  subject  which  I  propose  to  bring  before  you  is,  in  its 
nature,  of  melancholy  interest.  Nevertheless,  it  is  not  easy 
to  excite  human  sympathy  deeply  in  respect  to  it,  although  it 
unfolds  a  wider  and  darker  history  of  human  wrongs  than 
that  accursed  traffic  in  flesh  and  blood  which  has  justly 
aroused  the  Christian  world  for  its  extermination.  Slavery 
and  the  slave  trade  are,  indeed,  a  part  of  my  subject;  yet 
only  a  small  part.  For  I  shall  speak  of  the  slavery  of  the 
immortal  mind  —  of  its  subjection,  whether  voluntary  or  iu- 

(376) 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  377 

voluntary,  to  any  of  the  thousand  petty  tyrants  that,  from  the 
beginning,  have  lorded  it  over  the  human  soul,  and  made 
merchandise  of  its  lofty  powers,  and  crushed  its  expanding 
energies.  The  wrongs  which  the  human  family  have  en 
dured  from  slavery,  technically  so  called,  terrible  as  they  have 
been,  sink  into  comparative  insignificance  when  we  take  this 
wider  view  of  the  subject,  and  behold,  as  I  shall  endeavor  to 
show,  not  a  few  millions  merely,  but  earth's  almost  entire  and 
vast  population,  deprived  of  rights  infinitely  more  precious 
than  personal  liberty  —  the  right  and  the  power  of  cultivat 
ing  the  faculties  by  which  alone  they  are  distinguished  from 
the  brutes  that  perish.  Here  is  a  chapter  on  oppression  and 
slavery  which  has  never  yet  been  written.  Indeed,  what 
arithmetic  can  tell  us  the  value  of  the  rights  which  have  thus 
been  wrested  from  man,  or  the  amount  of  the  losses  and  suf 
ferings  he  has  endured  !  And  yet,  as  I  said  above,  unless  we 
bring  physical  sufferings  into  the  account,  there  is  little  sensi 
bility  among  men  to  the  subject.  It  will  not  need  an  armed 
police  here  to-day  to  defend  me  from  violence  while  I  discuss 
it.  But  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  reason  to  fear  that  the 
strong  array  of  urbanity,  and  attention,  and  benevolence,  and 
patience,  which  I  know  form  a  strong  body  guard  around  this 
audience,  will  hardly  be  able  to  defend  them  against  drowsi 
ness,  or  nervousness,  as  I  proceed. 

But  I  am  dealing  too  much  in  enigmas.  I  denominate  my 
subject  THE  WASTE  OF  MIND.  It  is  not  necessary,  before 
this  audience,  to  enter  into  an  argument  to  show  that,  unless 
the  intellectual  powers  are  cultivated,  man  scarcely  rises 
above  the  brutes ;  nay,  in  many  respects,  is  their  inferior. 
Nor  will  it  be  any  more  doubted  that  the  Creator  endowed  us 
with  these  powers,  with  the  precise  design  of  having  them 
cultivated  ;  and  of  course,  that  he  surrounded  us  with  circum- 
32* 


378  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

stances  favorable  to  their  cultivation.  If,  then,  individuals,  or 
communities,  or  nations  do  not  cultivate  their  minds,  either 
through  their  own  neglect  or  the  fault  of  others,  there  is  so 
much  dead  loss  to  the  world,  so  much  waste  of  what  God 
placed  within  its  reach,  and  whose  value  can  be  estimated 
neither  by  gold  nor  by  numbers.  This  is  one  variety  of  what 
I  call  the  icaste  of  mind. 

Again,  let  us  suppose  an  individual  or  a  community  to  sub 
ject  their  powers  to  some  sort  of  discipline,  but  to  devote 
them  to  things  useless  or  hurtful.  It  is  surely  the  mildest 
language  we  can  use,  to  call  such  perversion  of  the  noblest 
gifts  and  acquisitions  a  waste  of  mind.  And  this  is,  in  fact, 
the  most  common  mode  in  which  men  incur  the  charge  of 
squandering  away  their  noble  powers  and  attainments.  If 
their  newly- developed  faculties  promote  neither  their  own 
happiness  nor  that  of  others,  nor  advance  the  cause  of  sound 
learning,  nor  the  cause  of  religion,  —  if  employed  only  to 
aid  in  pampering  gross  bodily  appetites,  or  in  accomplishing 
the  destruction  of  their  fellow-men,  the  pearl  of  Cleopatra, 
dissolved  to  grace  the  feast  to  Mark  Antony,  is  but  a  faint 
emblem  of  this  infinitely  greater  sacrifice. 

In  these  two  ways,  then,  I  maintain  that  the  waste  of  mind 
always  has  been,  and  still  is,  immense.  And  to  establish  and 
illustrate  this  position,  I  propose  to  present  the  subject  in 
three  aspects  :  — 

1.  Historically. 

2.  Geographically. 

3.  Individually. 

1.  Historically.  —  To  enable  you  justly  to  appreciate  this 
first  part  of  my  argument,  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  a  de 
tailed  history  of  nations,  but  only  to  seize  upon  some  of  its 
leading  features.  As  a  preliminary,  I  assert  that  there  is  no 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  379 

important  difference  between  the  members  of  the  human 
family,  when  placed  in  the  same  circumstances,  in  the  facility 
with  which  they  acquire  useful  knowledge,  and  adopt  the 
arts  and  rules  of  civilized  life.  There  is,  indeed,  a  great 
diversity  in  these  respects  between  individuals  ;  but  I  am  here 
comparing  nations,  or  tribes,  with  one  another.  And  if  their 
susceptibilities  of  improvement  are  nearly  equal,  then,  since 
Providence  furnished  them  in  the  earlier  stages  of  society 
with  nearly  equal  means  of  improvement,  it  is  fair  to  take 
those  who  are  the  most  advanced  as  a  standard  by  which  to 
estimate  the  deficiencies  of  the  others.  Let  us  take  for  an 
example  our  progenitors  of  Great  Britain.  They  were  riot, 
indeed,  quite  as  low  on  the  scale  of  intellect  as  some  other 
heathen  nations.  But  the  horrid  system  of  Druidism,  which 
there  prevailed,  which  could  be  satisfied  with  nothing  but 
human  victims  for  sacrifice,  must  have  been  like  the  blast  of 
death  to  every  thing  pure,  and  lovely,  and  noble.  They  who 
could  submit  century  after  century  to  such  a  system  of  gloomy 
superstition,  must  have  been  about  as  much  degraded  as  hu 
man  nature  can  be.  Nor  did  the  Saxon  conquest,  which 
brought  in  little  more  than  swarms  of  pirates,  with  a  religion 
almost  as  debasing  as  Druidism,  afford  much  alleviation  to  the 
gloomy  picture.  Nevertheless,  in  the  amalgamated  character 
which  resulted,  there  were  certain  elements,  which  have,  in 
the  course  of  centuries,  brought  out  the  noblest  development 
of  human  nature  which  the  world  has  ever  witnessed.  What 
a  vast  storehouse  of  cultivated  intellect  has  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  been,  all  over  the  world,  for  the  last  three  hundred  years  ! 
What  brilliant  discoveries,  what  immense  acquisitions,  what 
mighty  conquests,  have  they  made  in  art,  science,  and  litera 
ture  !  And  as  a  consequence,  what  vast  accessions  have 
they  made  to  the  means  of  human  usefulness  and  happiness ! 


380  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

what  streams  of  knowledge  and  of  salvation  are  at  this  mo 
ment  flowing  out  from  the  little  island  of  Britain,  over  more 
than  half  the  globe  !  and  what  almost  countless  millions  feel 
the  giant  strength  of  her  arm  ! 

But  is  there  any  thing  peculiar  in  Anglo-Saxon  blood, 
which  enables  that  race  to  rise  higher  in  intellect  and  art  than 
any  other  ?  Surely  not ;  for  even  now  other  races  compete 
with  them.  The  present  state  of  that  race,  then,  is  only  a 
fair  index  of  what  the  whole  world  is  capable  of  becoming 
—  nay,  of  what  it  might  have  been,  almost  from  the  begin 
ning,  if  it  had  not  perverted  the  gifts  of  Providence.  Indeed, 
even  among  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  there  is,  at  this  moment, 
an  immense  waste  of  mind,  as  I  shall  attempt  to  show  in  the 
sequel ;  so  that  even  their  brilliant  career  of  knowledge  and 
civilization  is  far  inferior  to  what  the  whole  world  might  have 
exhibited  in  past  ages,  if  man  had  not  been  recreant  to  his 
powers  and  privileges. 

But  from  a  picture  so  bright  and  fascinating,  turn  back 
your  eye,  and  see  what  the  world  has  actually  been  during 
the  six  thousand  years  of  her  history.  Read  that  history  ; 
and  what  is  the  prominent  idea  which  remains  upon  your 
mind  ?  It  will  be  war  —  merciless,  heart-withering  war  ! 
Read  again  ;  and  retain  the  next  strongest  impression,  and  I 
know  you  will  say  the  second  time —  nay,  the  third  time  —  that 
the  clangor  of  war  drowns  every  thing  else.  But  consult  the 
history  once  more,  to  ascertain  what  have  been  the  employ 
ments  of  man  during ^the  intervals  when  they  have  paused 
amid  their  conflicts,  and  you  will  find  the  crafty  and  ambi 
tious  few  engaged  in  intrigues  with  one  another,  and  in  rivet 
ing  more  firmly  the  yoke  of  oppression  upon  the  necks  of  the 
ignorant  and  abu;  od  multitude.  These  are  the  items,  I  say, 
that  constitute  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  the  history  of  man. 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  381 

Small,  indeed,  has  been  the  space  occupied  by  the  deeds  of 
the  noble  few  who  have  tried  to  stem  the  general  current,  and 
to  cultivate  the  arts  of  peace  —  to  promote  the  progress  of 
science  and  civilization,  of  pure  liberty,  and  the  elevation  of 
the  mass  of  mankind,  by  education  and  religion.  Though 
their  history  deserves  folios,  and  will  live  when  that  of  politi 
cal  intrigues  and  of  wars  shall  be  forgotten,  yet  if  given  only 
in  a  proportionate  space,  it  will  be  scarcely  visible.  For  the 
business  of  man,  thus  far,  has  been  to  persecute  and  destroy 
his  fellows,  instead  of  blessing  them ;  to  waste  and  pervert 
his  powers  on  unworthy  or  wicked  objects,  instead  of  using 
them  for  the  good  of  the  world.  That,  I  say,  has  been  his 
business  ;  while  benevolent  effort  has  been  only  the  infrequent 
exception. 

I  shall  doubtless  be  referred  to  Greece  and  Rome,  as  suffi 
cient  examples  to  redeem  the  ancient  world  from  the  heavy 
charge  of  an  almost  universal  waste  of  mind.  These  repub 
lics  are,  indeed,  the  brightest  spots  on  the  picture.  But  seen 
through  the  optics  of  Christianity,  their  light  is  mostly  a  lurid 
glare.  With  all  their  boasted  wisdom,  the  inhabitants  were 
idolaters  ;  they  were  slaveholders  ;  they  were  engaged  in 
almost  perpetual  wars;  and  Rome,  especially,  in  those  most 
unjustifiable  of  all  wars,  —  wars  of  conquest.  They  had 
more  light  than  other  nations ;  but  they  employed  it  all  for 
the  subjugation  and  destruction  of  their  fellow-men,  instead 
of  their  salvation.  A  few  among  them  did,  indeed,  cultivate 
the  arts  of  peace,  and  would  gladly  have  blessed  mankind. 
But  those  who  controlled  the  public  affairs  suffered  the  people 
to  grow  .up  in  ignorance,  and  made  use  of  the  discoveries  and 
reputation  of  their  philosophers  and  sages  to  aggrandize  the 
nation,  or  a  favored  few,  while  the  great  mass,  with  much 
seeming  liberty,  were  in  fact  under  the  worst  kind  of  bondage, 


382  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

Strike  from  the  annals  of  these  republics  the  history  of  their 
wars,  foreign  and  domestic,  scarce  one  of  which  can  bear  the 
light  of  Christianity,  —  strike  from  them  the  history  of  their 
domestic  oppressions,  and  add  to  them  what  never  has  been 
written,  the  history  of  female  degradation  there,  and  of  the 
insufferable  despotism  which  those  exercised  over  their  slaves 
at-  home,  who  made  the  forum  ring  with  their  vaunts  of  lib 
erty,  —  reduce  and  correct  Grecian  and  Roman  history  thus, 
and  you  will  find  little  in  it  which  the  benevolence  of  Chris 
tianity  would  not  denominate  waste  of  mind. 

I  shall  probably  be  thought  most  sadly,  if  not  criminally, 
deficient  in  reverence  for  the  classic  ground  of  antiquity,  by 
this  strong  condemnation  of  the  general  course  of  conduct 
pursued  by  these  ancient  republics.  Where  shall  we  find 
oratory  more  overwhelming,  rhetoric  more  correct,  poetry 
more  beautiful,  or  philosophy  more  sublime,  than  in  the  writ 
ings  transmitted  from  the  sages  of  antiquity,  and  still  made 
the  basis  of  instruction  in  our  higher  schools  of  learning  ? 
Instead  of  undervaluing  these  productions,  I  would  appeal  to 
them  as  a  ground  of  encouragement  to  all  literary  men ;  for 
the  whole  history  of  the  world  scarcely  furnishes  such  an 
example  of  success,  and  such  extensive  influence  exerted  by 
a  few  literary  men.  But.  on  the  other  hand,  it  should  not  be 
forgotten,  that  these  writings  are  held  in  such  high  estimation 
not  because  they  contain  a  correct  philosophy,  correct  moral 
or  religious  principles,  or  even  correct  rules  of  oratory. 
Excepting  as  models  of  fine  writing,  and  some  rhetorical  and 
mathematical  principles,  and  some  true  common  sense  max 
ims,  we  are  obliged  to  unlearn  all  which  they  contain  ;  and 
were  not  the  languages  in  which  they  were  written  eminently 
classic,  —  that  is,  chosen  as  the  medium  of  thought  among 
the  learned,  —  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  these  ancient  authors 


WASTE    OF    MIND. 

would  long  since  have  been  forgotten,  or,  rather,  replaced  by 
authors  better  adapted  to  modern  literature,  modern  science, 
and  modern  religion.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten,  that  while 
a  meritorious  few,  in  ancient  times,  did  not  waste  their  powers 
and  acquisitions,  but  devoted  them  to  the  good  of  mankind, 
scarcely  any  opportunity  was  afforded  to  the  common  people 
to  discipline  and  enlarge  their  minds  ;  and  thus  an  immense 
amount  of  talent  was  smothered  in  embryo.  But  what  I  com 
plain  of  most  of  all  is,  that  nearly  all  the  talent  which  was 
elicited,  and  most  of  the  discipline  which  was  enjoyed,  were 
turned  into  the  war  channel ;  and  what  should  have  been  con 
secrated  to  the  good  of  mankind  was  devoted  to  their  de 
struction. 

Here  again  I  shall  probably  come  into  collision  with  the 
views  of  some  who  entertain  a  high  regard  for  the  distin 
guished  warriors  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  who  would  rec 
ommend  them  as  examples  to  be  followed  by  Christian  youth, 
and  who  look  with  a  favorable  eye  upon  wars  in  which  such 
men  gathered  their  brightest  laurels.  I  will  not,  indeed,  take 
the  ground  that  all  wars  are  forbidden  by  the  spirit  and  letter 
of  the  gospel ;  but  I  shall  utter  the  almost  unanimous  opinion 
of  the  Protestant  world,  when  I  say  that  offensive  wars  are 
the  very  antipodes  of  the  Bible.  Now,  how  very  few  of  the 
wars  of  Greece  and  Rome  were  not  of  this  description ! 
Some  of  the  earlier  contests  —  as  that  when  Greece  was 
invaded  by  Xerxes  —  were  merely  defensive.  But  as  soon  as 
these  nations,  especially  Rome,  became  sufficiently  powerful, 
the  aggrandizement  of  the  empire  was  unblushingly  offered 
as  a  sufficient  reason  for  carrying  fire  and  sword  through 
unsubjugated  regions,  however  remote.  A  petty  insult, 
offered  by  a  neighboring  state,  was  deemed  cause  enough  for 
a  bloody  Peloponnesian  war.  Now,  with  the  Bible  in  my 


384  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

hand,  I  boldly  declare,  that  the  talents  and  energies  employed 
in  such  wars  as  these  are  worse  than  wasted,  and  that  the 
leaders  in  them  deserve  execration  instead  of  imitation.  I 
speak  not  of  the  blood  and  pecuniary  treasure  expended  in 
such  wars.  These  may  be,  and  have  been,  calculated  ;  and 
they  form  a  frightful  aggregate.  But  to  sacrifice  upon  the 
altar  of  hate  and  unhallowed  ambition  a  vast  and  incalculable 
amount  of  immortal  mind — to  offer  up  there  the  intellectual 
hopes  and  glory  of  a  nation  —  should  receive  the  name  of 
sacrilege  rather  than  waste.  And  yet,  what  myriads  of  her 
noblest  minds  did  Greece  and  Rome  cast  into  the  insatiable 
maw  of  the  Moloch  of  war  !  If  we  can  forgive  it  in  a  heathen 
nation,  how  ought  it  to  be  execrated  in  a  land  professing 
Christianity  ! 

It  will  indeed  be  said  that  we  ought  not  to  regard  all  the 
intellect  which  is  sacrificed,  even  in  wars  of  ambition  and 
conquest,  as  lost  or  wasted.  For  such  wars  wake  up  the  pub 
lic  mind  to  effort;  and  we  accordingly  find  that  seasons  of 
great  exigency  are  periods  when  remarkable  developments 
are  made  of  individual  talent. 

There  is  certainly  truth  in  this  statement.  But  who  are 
the  men  thus  awakened  by  war  to  extraordinary  efforts  ? 
Only  that  small  number  who  are  leaders  in  the  struggle. 
And  what  effect  is  produced  upon  the  community?  Their 
means  of  improvement  are  exhausted,  and  they  are  obliged  to 
struggle  for  a  long  time  with  the  poverty  brought  on  them  by 
the  expenses  of  the  war.  It  requires  a  quarter  of  a  century 
of  prosperous  peace  to  recover  from  the  withering  influence 
of  a  single  protracted  war.  Hence  the  aggregate  of  loss  to 
the  community  at  large  far  outstrips  the  aggregate  of  gain  to 
individuals,  even  if  we  look  only  to  mental  improvement; 
and  hence  the  energies  expended  in  such  wars  are  worse  than 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  385 

wasted.  And  the  same  is  true  of  all  wars.  Though  they 
may  promote  the  interests  of  a  favored  few,  and  even  bring 
out  a  development  of  individual  talent,  they  effectually  extin 
guish  the  intellectual  vitality  of  the  great  majority,  whose 
elevation  is  of  far  more  importance  to  the  world  than  that  of 
an  aristocratic  few.  But  it  may  be  stated  as  a  general  fact, 
that  wars  tend  to  degrade  the  many  and  exalt  the  few. 
Thus  the  leaders  soon  learn  to  regard  the  life  of  a  common 
man  with  as  much  indifference  as  they  would  that  of  a  beast 
of  burden.  In  France,  during  the  reign  of  Bonaparte,  con 
scripts  were  styled  by  the  leaders  raw  materials,  and  food  for 
powder  ;  and  the  question  was  discussed,  how  long  a  conscript 
would  last.  Some  said  thirty-three,  and  others  thirty-six 
months  ;  and  Napoleon  once  remarked,  that  he  had  a  revenue 
of  three  hundred  thousand  men.  How  different  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  which  almost  forgets  the  trifling  distinctions  of 
worldly  ambition,  in  looking  at  that  infinitely  more  important 
distinction  which  every  man  may  claim  —  the  possession  of 
an  jmmortal  mind  !  Hence  it  is,  that  while  Christianity  does 
not  overlook  the  few,  it  aims  chiefly  to  instruct  and  elevate 
the  many. 

I  am  led  by  this  remark  to  say  in  this  connection,  that  the 
introduction  of  Christianity  into  the  world  affords  us  the  most 
remarkable  example  of  success  in  the  cultivation  of  the  hu 
man  faculties  which  history  can  furnish.  The  gospel  had  a 
higher  object  in  view  than  to  promote  intellectual  cultivation, 
and  the  few  obscure  men  by  whom  it  was  first  promulgated 
were  mostly  uneducated.  And  yet  that  College  of  Fishermen 
has  done  more  to  advance  the  cause  of  public  education  than 
all  other  colleges  and  universities  combined.  And  this  has 
been  done  by  the  principle  just  alluded  to,  viz.,  by  extending 
its  instructions  and  regards  to  the  whole  human  family.  All 
33 


386  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

other  systems  for  doing  good  to  mankind  have  been  exclusive 
in  their  regards  ;  and  while  they  have  benefited  a  few,  they 
have  left  the  multitude  to  grovel  in  ignorance  and  wretched 
ness.  And  so  long  have  the  latter  been  treated  as  if  they 
were  but  one  step  removed  from  the  brutes,  that,  by  a  curious 
principle  of  human  nature,  they  have  come  to  believe  it,  and 
to  hug  the  chains  by  which  they  are  bound  down  to  the  dust. 
But  when  the  Bible  has  convinced  the  most  degraded  human 
being  that  he  is  immortal,  and  capable  of  boundless  progress 
in  knowledge  and  happiness,  it  has  taken  the  greatest  bar  out 
of  the  way  of  his  advancement  in  human  literature  and  sci 
ence.  Accordingly  we  find,  that  in  those  countries  where  the 
Bible  has  been  most  widely  circulated,  and  its  influence  felt, 
popular  education  has  achieved  its  greatest  triumphs  —  as  in 
Greenland,  Prussia,  Great  Britain,  and  North  America.  But 
so  soon  as  we  enter  those  regions  where  the  Bible  is  unknown, 
or  restricted  in  its  circulation,  we  have  entered  also  the  do 
mains  of  popular  ignorance  and  degradation  ;  even  though  it 
may  be  a  land  of  colleges  and  universities,  and  boasting  .not 
a  few  prodigies  of  genius  and  learning.  He  therefore  who 
means  that  his  name  shall  stand  high  among  the  pioneers  and 
promoters  of  public  education,  must  connect  it  with  the  Bible. 
That  is  the  only  Archimedean  lever  by  which  he  can  raise 
the  world. 

2.  Geographically.  —  In  entering  upon  the  second  division 
of  the  subject,  where  I  am  to  treat  it  geographically,  it  would 
greatly  aid  our  conceptions  could  I  call  in  an  experienced 
missionary  as  a  witness.  Many  such,  however,  have  given  us 
their  testimony,  and  to  that  I  shall  appeal.  Let  us  suppose 
such  a  one,  of  Anglo-Saxon  origin,  to  go  forth  on  a  tour  of 
exploration,  to  form  an  estimate,  not  only  of  the  moral,  but 
the  intellectual  condition  of  the  world.  As  he  quits  our 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  387 

shores,  probably  forever,  he  almost  forgets  our  many  defects 
and  crying  sins,  when  he  recollects  how  many  salutary  influ 
ences  are  here  at  work ;  how  the  Bible  finds  a  place  in  almost 
every  family ;  how  the  school  house  is  seen  at  almost  every 
corner ;  how  thickly  the  select  school,  the  academy,  and  the 
college  are  scattered  over  our  soil ;  and  how,  by  these  and 
other  means,  knowledge  is  carried  to  the  meanest  hovel,  and 
elevates  and  dignifies  its  poorest  inmate.  He  crosses  the  At 
lantic,  and  in  exploring  the  fatherland,  is  no  less  —  nay,  in 
some  respects,  is  more  gratified,  and  thanks  God  that  he  be 
longs  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  He  visits  the  continent,  and 
as  he  wanders  through  Prussia,  Sweden,  and  some  of  the 
German  states,  and  some  of  the  countries  of  Switzerland,  he 
begins  to  fancy  that  wherever  he  meets  with  a  Caucasian 
physiognomy,  he  shall  find  intelligence  and  freedom.  He 
enters  France,  and  while  he  surveys  the  splendid  monuments 
of  the  Louvre,  the  Garden  of  Plants,  and  a  thousand  other 
repositories  of  art  and  science  in  the  capital  of  that  empire, 
he  seems  to  have  reached  the  emporium  of  knowledge,  and 
can  hardly  imagine  that  he  is  to  meet  with  deep  degradation 
and  ignorance  in  such  a  nation.  But  as  he  wanders  over  the 
streets  and  lanes  of  that  city,  and  especially  through  the  De 
partments,  he  is  amazed  to  find,  beneath  such  a  splendid  ex 
terior,  so  much  that  is  dark  and  disgusting,  so  much  of  igno 
rance  and  infidelity  among  the  mass  of  the  population.  But 
when  he  learns  that  the  Bible  is  in  a  great  measure  withheld 
from  circulation,  he  sees  an  adequate  cause  for  all  the  igno 
rance,  corruption,  and  infidelity.  And  when  he  traverses 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  Italy,  and  sees  how  much  deeper  is  the 
cloud  of  ignorance  and  wickedness  which  broods  over  those 
nations,  and  how  much  more  sedulously  the  Bible  is  excluded, 
he  finds  full  confirmation  of  his  conclusion  that  it  is  this  book, 


388  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

rather  than  a  Caucasian  physiognomy,  which  brings  light  and 
liberty,  as  well  as  salvation.  Among  the  teeming  millions  on 
the  banks  of  the  Danube,  he  finds  the  same  truth  illustrated ; 
and  the  degraded  serfs  of  Russia's  vast  plains  confirm  his 
impressions.  In  short,  he  finds  that  where  the  Bible  is  a  pro 
hibited  or  scarcely  known  book,  there  the  common  man  is 
left  unenlightened  and  undisciplined,  and  an  incalculable 
amount  of  wasted  and  perverted  mind  is  the  result. 

But  though  we  find  so  much  to  deplore  in  the  mental  con 
dition  of  Catholic  Europe,  and  much  also  in  many  parts  of 
Protestant  Europe,  still,  in  all  those  countries  there  does  exist 
a  great  amount  of  mental  activity.  Amid  much  that  is  sad 
dening  to  the  missionary's  spirit,  there  is  much  to  cheer  and 
inspire  with  hope  for  the  future.  It  is  not  till  he  enters  the 
Oriental  dominions  of  Mohammedanism,  that  he  has  any  just 
conceptions  of  what  is  meant  by  an  utter  waste  and  perver 
sion  of  mind.  The  noble  features  of  the  Caucasian  race  do 
indeed  meet  him  under  the  turban  of  the  Turk,  the  cap  of  the 
Persian,  in  the  sun-burned  complexion  of  the  Arab,  even  in 
the  savage  aspect  of  the  Koord  and  the  Tartar,  and  especially 
in  the  elegant  countenance  of  the  Circassian  and  the  Geor 
gian.  But  he  is  amazed  to  witness  what  a  dreadful  stagnation 
of  mind  pervades  all  these  nations.  It  is  not  utter  barbarism 
and  destitution  of  all  intelligence,  but  that  strange  state  of  the 
human  soul,  when  there  is  just  light  enough  to  make  it  feel  its 
own  importance,  and  excite  the  idea  that  it  has  reached  the 
acme  of  knowledge,  and  that  others,  especially  those  of  an 
other  religion,  can  furnish  no  additional  light.  In  short,  it  is 
just  such  a  state  of  mind  as  the  Koran  is  calculated  to  pro 
duce,  and  which  its  author  meant  it  to  produce.  Its  spirit  is 
well  illustrated  in  the  syllogism  by  which  the  Caliph  Omar 
consigned  the  famous  Alexandrian  library,  where  was  gath- 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  389 

ercd  most  of  the  literature  of  antiquity,  to  the  use  of  the 
common  soldiers  for  cooking  their  food.  "  If  these  books," 
said  he,  "  are  opposed  to  the  Koran,  they  ought  to  be  de 
stroyed  ;  if  they  agree  with  the  Koran,  they  are  unnecessary, 
and  may  therefore  be  burned."  That  is  the  spirit  which 
chimes  in  admirably  with  the  demands  of  despotism,  and 
which  in  fact  keeps  at  this  moment  one  hundred  millions  of 
Asia  and  Africa  in  deep  and  almost  hopeless  political  and  in 
tellectual  bondage. 

But  the  missionary  on  his  tour  of  observation  has  yet  to 
meet  with  examples  of  human  ignorance,  prejudice,  and  deg 
radation  still  more  revolting  to  the  benevolent  heart.  He  en 
ters  the  self-styled  "  Celestial  Empire  "  of  South-eastern  Asia, 
and  encounters  the  self-sufficiency  and  dogmatism  of  the 
Mongolian  race,  still  more  insufferable  than  that  of  the  Cau 
casian  followers  of  the  false  prophet.  In  China,  almost  every 
thing  is  perfect ;  in  view  of  the  native,  it  is  perfect  wisdom, 
perfect  intelligence,  perfect  freedom,  and  perfect  happiness ; 
in  the  eye  of  the  missionary,  perfect  folly,  perfect  ignorance 
and  self-conceit,  perfect  bondage  to  prejudice  and  custom,  and 
perfect  wretchedness  to  the  soul  of  Christian  benevolence. 
At  any  rate,  the  intellect  of  those  almost  countless  millions, 
which,  if  properly  cultivated,  might  send  a  blaze  of  light  all 
over  the  globe,  is  now  shut  up  in  a  nutshell ;  and  woe  be  to 
the  individual  who  ventures  to  look  upon  the  outside.  Strange, 
that  no  one  of  the  vast  population,  which  from  generation  to 
generation  has  swarmed  in  that  empire,  should  ever  have  ven 
tured  a  step  beyond  his  predecessors,  and  that  the  highest 
ambition  of  those  who  might  have  filled  the  world  with  their 
literary  and  scientific  glory  has  been  to  fill  it  with  bohea  and 
young  hyson. 

The  Chinese  mind,  however,  is  by  no  means  in  as  degraded 
33* 


390  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

a  state  as  that  of  some  other  nations.  The  wide  and  popu 
lous  region  of  Hindostan  and  Japan,  Farther  India,  and  espe 
cially  of  Australasia  and  Polynesia,  as  well  as  the  almost 
entire  continent  of  Africa,  exhibits  an  utter  and  almost  unal- 
leviated  waste  of  mind.  Of  all  the  animals  inhabiting  those 
regions,  man  is  doubtless  the  farthest  below  what  his  Cre 
ator  intended  him  to  be  ;  and,  I  had  almost  said,  probably  he 
is  the  lowest  on  the  scale  of  intellect.  There  is  no  part  of 
the  world  which  the  civilized  man  cannot  penetrate,  in  spite 
of  the  fiercest  and  strongest  wild  beasts.  But  there  are  many 
regions  which  he  has  never  been  able  to  explore,  because 
the  untamed  savage  is  more  dangerous  than  beasts  of  prey. 
This  fact  is  a  fine  comment  upon  those  Utopian  theories 
which  represent  the  savage  state  as  more  desirable  than  the 
civilized.  Those  same  beings  whose  cultivation  might  make 
not  only  the  region  which  they  inhabit  a  paradise,  but  shed 
blessings  on  other  lands,  are  now  the  most  degraded  and  dis 
gusting  objects  which  the  earth  contains,  and  the  terror  of 
civilized  man,  and  even  of  one  another.  Yet  this  is  the  con 
dition  of  almost  the  whole  of  the  two  wide  continents  of  Africa 
and  Australasia,  and  of  vast  regions  in  Asia.  What  a  terrific 
waste  of  mind  the  picture  exhibits  ! 

In  all  the  regions  we  have  now  examined  beyond  the  limits 
of  Christianity,  there  is  one  feature  which  I  ought  not  to  pass 
unnoticed  on  this  occasion.  In  all  Christian  countries,  we 
find  woman  brought  into  free  companionship,  if  not  equality, 
with  man.  Unrestrained  by  any  thing  but  propriety  and  reli 
gion,  she  goes  abroad  to  enjoy  the  beauties  of  nature,  and  to 
mingle  freely  in  society,  of  which,  indeed,  she  constitutes  the 
chief  life  and  ornament.  But  as  soon  as  we  enter  the  domin 
ions  of  the  false  prophet,  she  is  shut  out  from  all  society  save 
that  of  her  own  sex  and  of  her  tyrannical  husband,  or  rather 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  391 

master ;  or  if  we  meet  her,  it  is  only  as  a  walking  mummy. 
Not  even  in  her  own  house  can  she  be  seen,  though  in  the 
presence  of  her  lord  ;  and  to  inquire  of  him  concerning  her 
welfare,  or  that  of  her  children,  is  an  unpardonable  breach 
of  etiquette.  And  the  reason  of  this  contemptuous  and  bar 
barous  exclusion  and  neglect,  the  traveller  is  gravely  in 
formed,  is,  that  woman  has  no  soul.  Well  might  the  traveller 
retort  upon  the  ignorant  Mussulman  that  such  an  opinion 
could  be  entertained  only  by  the  man  who  has  no  soul.  It  is, 
indeed,  one  of  the  strongest  marks  of  the  grovelling  and  das 
tardly  spirit  of  Mohammedanism  and  paganism  that  they 
degrade  and  abuse  woman  because  she  is  feeble  and  defence 
less.  There  is  no  meanness  so  great  as  his  who  takes  advan 
tage  of  the  power  which  Providence  gave  him  to  protect  the 
weak  and  confiding  in  order  to  enslave  them.  Yet,  aside 
from  the  influence  of  Christianity,  this  has  been  a  character 
istic  of  human  nature  ;  and  woman  has  been  the  uncomplain 
ing  victim  in  all  ages.  The  oppression  has  been  the  more 
severe  in  proportion  as  man  has  been  farther  removed  from 
a  civilized  state.  It  is  less  in  Turkey  and  Persia  than  in 
China,  where  females  are  sometimes  seen  yoked  to  the 
plough  and  the  harrow.  Still  deeper  is  the  degradation  in 
Hindostan,  where  the  widow  must  either  be  burned  on  the 
funeral  pile  or  by  a  public  opinion  more  terrible  than  literal 
flames.  And  yet  more  intolerable  do  we  find  the  female 
condition  in  Australasia  and  Polynesia,  in  some  of  whose 
islands  the  first  addresses  woman  receives  from  her  future 
husband  consist  in  being  levelled  to  the  ground  by  a  club; 
next  she  is  beaten  till  sense  and  life  are  almost  gone,  and 
then  dragged  over  the  rough  ground  to  his  bark  hut.  And, 
as  we  might  expect,  it  is  said  that  such  a  beginning  of  the 
matrimonial  connection  is  a  fair  sample  of  its  character 
through  life. 


392  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

Excepting  the  southern  portion  of  our  own  continent, 
where  are  no  bright  lines  to  relieve  the  gloomy  picture,  we 
have  now  accompanied  the  missionary  over  the  entire  globe  ; 
and  though,  to  his  mind,  the  spiritual  condition  of  our  race 
may  seem  the  most  degraded  and  hopeless,  yet  their  intel 
lectual  state  is  hardly  less  distressing.  Few,  and  narrow,  and 
far  between  are  the  oases  that  smile  on  the  wide  mental 
waste.  Out  of  Europe  and  the  northern  part  of  our  own 
continent,  the  eye  searches  almost  in  vain  for  a  green  spot  to 
rest  upon.  And  when  we  come  to  take  a  nearer  view  even 
of  the  brightest  spots,  we  shall  find  that  the  light  falls  on 
these  only  in  fitful  and  scattered  rays,  illuminating  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  surface.  To  take  this  nearer  view  will  consti 
tute  the  third  part  of  the  subject,  where  I  propose  to  examine 
it  individually.  Under  this  head,  I  wish  to  point  out  some 
of  the  employments  and  habits  of  individuals  and  classes  of 
men  which  either  tend  to  check  the  progress  of  intellect,  or 
exert  no  influence,  or  a  bad  influence,  upon  society  —  for  in 
all  these  ways  waste  of  mental  power  is  the  result.  And  it 
ought  never  to  be  forgotten  that  Providence  intended  that  all 
the  energies  of  the  human  soul,  in  their  most  cultivated  state, 
should  be  devoted  to  useful  and  worthy  objects,  and  that  they 
cannot,  without  guilt,  be  expended  upon  those  injurious  to 
society  or  to  individuals,  or  which  are  of  doubtful  utility. 

In  entering  upon  the  catalogue  of  pursuits  injurious  to 
society,  one  of  the  first  on  the  list,  which  will  immediately 
occur  to  every  person,  is  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxi 
cating  drinks.  A  few  years  since,  I  should  have  been  com 
pelled  to  enter  into  a  formal  argument  to  convince  even  a 
respectable  audience  that  such  employments  are  injurious. 
But  thanks  to  divine  mercy,  which  has  wrought  so  wondrous 
a  revolution  of  public  opinion,  this  is  no  longer  necessary. 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  393 

In  theory,  at  least,  most  men  now  entertain  correct  views  on 
this  subject.  Yet  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that,  as  Hudibras 
expresses  it, — 

"  A  man  convinced  against  his  will 
Is  of  the  same  opinion  still." 

For  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  there  are  many  such  conver 
sions  among  those  who  join  the  general  cry  against  alcohol. 
And  the  future  historian  of  temperance  will  probably  be  com 
pelled  to  say  of  many  such  as  Monsieur  Paradin  has  said  of 
the  ladies  in  the  fourteenth  century,  when  the  monk  Thomas 
Connecte  preached  with  great  zeal  and  power  against  their 
lofty  head  dresses.  "  The  women,"  says  he,  "  that,  like  snails 
in  a  fright,  had  drawn  in  their  horns,  thrust  them  out  again 
as  soon  as  the  danger  was  over."  It  ought,  also,  to  be  re 
membered  that,  even  now,  no  less  than  twelve  thousand  per 
sons  are  directly  engaged  all  the  time  in  the  manufacture  of 
intoxicating  drinks  in  the  United  States,  —  or,  at  least,  such 
was  the  case  two  years  ago,  —  and  ten  times  as  many  a  part 
of  their  time.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  at  least  as  great  a 
proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  Europe,  and  in  wine  countries 
a  much  larger  one,  is  devoted  to  this  business ;  so  that,  in  this 
country  and  Europe,  millions  are  worse  than  wasting  their 
energies  in  this  execrable  employment. 

I  cannot,  in  conscience,  avoid  placing  in  the  same  category 
the  cultivation  and  manufacture  of  a  poisonous  plant,  whose 
narcotic  and  exhilarating  qualities  make  it  a  general  favorite, 
in  spite  of  the  Counterblast  of  King  James,  the  decrees  of 
popes  and  emperors,  and  the  yet  more  powerful  attacks  of 
physicians,  clergymen,  and  scientific  men  in  our  own  day. 
Rarely  will  you  find  the  individual  addicted  to  its  use  who 
will  not  confess  the  habit  to  be  a  useless  and  filthy  one  ;  and 


394  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

yet  appetite  triumphs  over  his  convictions,  and  he  is  made  a 
slave  for  life.  The  consequence  is,  that  the  demand  for  this 
weed  all  over  the  world  is  immense  —  no  less  than  twenty 
millions  of  dollars  being  annually  expended  for  it  in  this 
country.  And  to  its  preparation  thousands,  and  even  mil 
lions,  of  immortal  minds  devote  all  their  powers,  instead  of 
consecrating  them  to  the  advancement  of  knowledge  and  the 
happiness  of  man.  But  I  am  sorry  to  say  that,  so  extensive 
is  the  habit  of  using  this  intoxicating  drug,  that  I  fear  I  shall 
have  but  little  sympathy  in  its  condemnation,  and  that  I  shall 
be  regarded  as  too  ascetic  for  this  narcotic-loving  age. 

Shall  I  now  proceed  a  step  farther,  and  reckon  among  the 
hurtful,  or  at  least  useless,  articles  of  cultivation  and  manu 
facture,  two  other  plants  ranked  by  physicians  among  the 
narcotics  and  stimulants,  yet  reckoned  almost  indispensable 
by  half  the  inhabitants  of  the  globe  as  beverages  to  brace  up 
the  nerves  in  the  morning,  and  to  chase  away  fatigue  and  the 
headache  in  the  evening?  If  they  are  useless, —  if  Provi 
dence  has  provided  a  better  beverage  to  our  hands,  —  the 
waste  of  mind  is  truly  incalculable  involved  in  their  prepara 
tion  ;  for  how  many  millions  does  it  occupy  !  But  I  forbear ; 
for  I  tread  here  upon  delicate  ground,  and  come  into  collision 
with  customs  and  prejudices  too  formidable  for  me  to  grap 
ple  with  on  an  occasion  like  the  present,  when  I  would  give 
pleasure  rather  than  pain.  I  do  not  fear,  indeed,  that  even 
a  strong  condemnation  of  these  articles  would  give  pain  to 
the  members  of  this  institution  ;  for  so  well  satisfied  are  they 
with  the  pure  nectar  of  nature,  that  they  lay  no  tax  upon 
China  or  the  West  Indies  for  their  morning  and  evening  bev 
erage.*  But  I  trust  that  both  they  and  myself,  contented 

*  I  ought  to  say  that  the  young  ladies  are  not  required  to  refrain  from  tea 
and  coffee  ;  but  the  fact  is  that  very  little  is  used. 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  395 

with  the  personal  benefits  we  derive  from  our  aqueous  sym 
pathies,  will  exercise  a  very  liberal  charity  towards  those  who 
in  this  respect  cannot  come  up  to  our  standard.  If  we  can 
not  agree  that  there  is  a  waste  of  mind  in  employing  millions 
of  men  to  prepare  these  fascinating  decoctions,  all  reasonable 
Christian  men  can  agree  as  to  a  multitude  of  other  employ 
ments,  which  consume  unnecessarily  and  wickedly  the  time 
and  the  talents  of  the  human  family. 

We  shall  all  agree  that  this  is  done  on  a  wide  scale  by 
luxurious  living — by  pampering  an  artificial  and  fastidious 
appetite.  I  think  I  may  safely  pronounce  that  system  of 
living  luxurious  which  indulges  the  appetite  beyond  what  will 
give  the  most  perfect  development  and  enjoyment  to  the  mind 
and  the  body.  No  man  who  is  not  strongly  Epicurean  in  his 
habits  can  object  to  this  principle.  And  yet  who  does  not 
know  how  grossly  and  widely  it  is  violated  the  world  over  ? 
The  wants  of  nature  are  few  and  simple ;  and,  until  we  ac 
quire  a  morbid  appetite,  that  simplicity  affords  even  more 
gustatory  enjoyment  than  the  costliest  viands  of  pampered 
luxury.  But  how  early  are  we  learned  to  crave  factitious 
and  stimulating  compounds !  and  how  soon  do  we  come  to 
regard  them  as  indispensable  !  Hence  human  ingenuity  is 
taxed  to  the  utmost  to  meet  the  demands  of  a  vitiated  and 
fastidious  appetite ;  and  the  culinary  art  becomes  so  compli 
cated  as  to  need  an  encyclopaedia  to  explain  it,  and  a  seven 
years'  apprenticeship  to  learn  it.  In  short,  the  whole  time 
and  physical  and  intellectual  energies  of  three  fourths  of  the 
human  race  are  devoted,  at  this  moment,  to  cultivating,  pre 
paring,  and  compounding  food  for  the  body.  Is  it  possible 
that  such  was  the  intention  of  Providence,  in  endowing  man 
with  so  many  noble  faculties  ?  Was  it  meant  that  the  great 
business  of  life  should  be  to  gratify  the  palate  ?  Why,  then, 


396  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

was  man  made  superior  to  the  brutes,  if,  with  his  exalted 
powers,  he  can  accomplish  no  more  than  the  brutes  ?  O,  no 
—  those  powers  were  given  us  to  be  employed  upon  noble 
objects.  We  have  departed  from  nature,  and  given  to  our 
animal  and  inferior  constitution  so  exalted  a  regard  that  the 
intellect,  the  immortal  part,  has  become  its  servant.  Man 
can  be  healthier  and  happier,  if  he  will  substitute  simplicity 
for  compound  cookery,  and  a  natural  appetite  for  a  vitiated 
palate. 

And,  on  this  occasion,  I  ought  not  to  forget  that  the  evils 
of  this  artificial  state  of  things  fall  most  heavily  upon  woman. 
Among  the  great  mass  of  the  community,  she  is  expected  to 
take  the  responsibility  of  culinary  manipulations  ;  and,  indeed, 
eminent  skill  in  this  department  is  generally  thought  to  be  the 
perfection  of  her  education.  Almost  the  whole  of  her  time 
must  be  devoted  to  the  preparation  of  delicacies  for  the  table  ; 
and  it  is  only  the  shreds  and  patches  of  life  that  she  can  devote 
to  the  cultivation  of  her  mind.  Gladly  would  she  introduce 
more  simplicity  and  temperance  at  her  domestic  board  —  not 
that  she  might  escape  responsibility  and  care,  but  that  she 
might  store  her  mind  with  a  richer  fund  of  knowledge,  and 
thus  furnish  her  guests  with  something  to  feast  the  intellect 
and  the  heart,  as  well  as  the  palate.  But  tyrannical  custom 
and  tyrannical  man  bind  her  down  in  hopeless  servitude  to 
morbid  appetite.  Her  husband  frowns  upon  any  diminution 
of  the  usual  variety  and  delicacy  at  the  table ;  and  then,  to 
reward  her  for  her  compliance  with  his  wishes,  he  gravely 
pronounces  her  the  weaker  vessel,  and  becomes  convinced  of 
her  inferiority  to  himself  in  intellect.  Verily  I  believe  that, 
if  ever  there  comes  a  millennium  of  learning,  along  with  a 
millennium  of  religion,  woman  will  obtain  some  relief  frOm 
her  culinary  thraldom.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  can  the  ques- 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  397 

tion  be  fairly  discussed  and  decided  which  forms  a  standing 
topic  in  the  college,  the  academy,  and  the  lyceum  —  whether 
she  be  inferior  to  man  in  intellectual  power. 

I  have  already  alluded  to  war  as  eminently  hostile  to  men 
tal  improvement.  Probably  no  custom  of  society  has  been 
more  so  ;  and  consequently  it  is  chargeable  with  a  vast  waste 
of  intellect.  It  exerts  this  pernicious  influence  in  part  by 
destroying  the  lives  of  many  who  might  be  the  intellectual 
ornaments  of  their  country  ;  for  the  highest  and  most  enter 
prising  minds  are  most  apt  to  be  drawn  into  the  vortex  of 
vice,  because  they  love  its  powerful  excitement.  The  wars 
of  Julius  Ceesar  destroyed  not  less  than  two  millions  ;  those 
of  Alexander  of  Macedon,  as  many ;  those  of  Napoleon,  twice 
as  many.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  all  the  wars  which  have 
blasted  the  globe  have  swept  from  its  surface  as  many  human 
beings  as  now  inhabit  it.  Again,  war  inevitably  produces  a 
state  of  things  most  unfavorable  to  the  advancement  of  knowl 
edge.  Literature  and  science  can  flourish  only  amid  the  calm 
and  security  of  peace.  The  war  spirit  awakens  too  much 
excitement,  and  brings  into  too  powerful  action  the  ferocious 
passions,  to  allow  of  the  cultivation  of  the  intellect.  The 
public  mind  becomes  a  stormy  sea,  ingulfing  every  thing 
which  cannot  live  in  a  tempest.  Finally,  the  great  pecuniary 
expenses  of  war,  which  fall  most  heavily  upon  the  middling 
and  poorer  classes,  deprive  them  in  a  great  measure,  and  for 
a  long  time,  of  the  leisure  and  money  necessary  for  extend 
ing  the  blessings  of  education  through  the  community.  The 
agricultural  and  manufacturing  interests  of  a  country  are  left 
by  war  in  a  deranged  state,  and  a  heavy  public  debt  is  usually 
entailed  upon  the  nation;  and  to  pay  this  debt,  and  restore 
the  business  of  the  country  to  a  healthy  condition,  demand  the 
34 


398  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

time  and  strenuous  labors  of  the  citizens.  A  few  facts  may 
more  strikingly  illustrate  this  point. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  part  of  the  world  where  a  more 
efficient  system  of  general  education  is  in  operation  than  in 
the  State  of  New  York.  In  1830,  with  a  population  of  one 
million  nine  hundred  and  eighteen  thousand  six  hundred  and 
eighteen,  she  expended  one  million  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  dollars  for  common  schools  and  academies,  where 
nearly  all  of  her  half  million  of  children  and  youth  were  in  a 
course  of  education.  To  provide  the  same  means  of  instruc 
tion  for  the  seventeen  millions  of  the  United  States,  in  1840, 
would  cost  ten  millions  of  dollars  ;  and  to  provide  the  same 
for  the  twenty-five  millions  of  Great  Britain  would  need  fifteen 
millions ;  and  for  the  eight  hundred  millions  of  the  entire 
globe  it  would  require  four  hundred  and  seventy  millions  of 
dollars.  Now,  let  us  compare  these  sums  with  the  expenses 
of  war. 

The  revolutionary  war  of  this  country  with  Great  Britain 
cost  our  government  six  hundred  millions,  while  the  individual 
losses  by  the  citizens  of  both  countries  must  have  been  many 
times  as  great.  Suppose  it  the  same,  and  here  we  have  ex 
pended  on  the  American  side,  in  seven  years,  money  enough 
to  provide  the  present  population  of  the  whole  country  with 
instruction  like  that  enjoyed  in  New  York  for  one  hundred 
years,  and  the  population  of  Great  Britain  for  eighty  years. 
The  last  war  with  Great  Britain  cost  our  government  fifty 
millions  ;  and,  on  the  same  principle  as  above  stated,  enough 
money  was  spent  to  afford  similar  instruction  to  both  countries 
for  ten  years,  although  the  war  lasted  but  two  and  a  half 
years.  A  single  war  with  Bonaparte  cost  Great  Britain  five 
thousand  two  hundred  and  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  —  suffi 
cient  to  afford  the  means  of  instruction  to  all  her  population 


WASTE    OF   MIND.  399 

for  three  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  to  give  the  same  means 
to  all  the  world  for  eleven  years.  In  1835,  the  national  debt 
of  Great  Britain,  incurred  for  war  purposes,  amounted  to 
three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety  millions  of  dollars. 
The  interest  on  this  is  one  hundred  and  forty-two  millions, 
and  would  furnish  her  inhabitants  with  the  means  of  educa 
tion  for  ten  years ;  that  is,  she  pays  a  yearly  interest  that 
would  do  this.  The  daily  expenses  of  a  man-of-war,  when 
in  service,  are  about  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  or  more  than 
half  a  million  for  a  year.  Nineteen  such  ships  would  of 
course  cost  as  much  as  to  educate  all  the  children  and  youth 
in  the  United  States.  Ten  such  ships,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
sum  requisite  for  their  construction,  would  require  a  pecuniary 
outlay  as  great  as  the  income  of  all  the  benevolent  societies 
in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  which  in  .1840  was 
five  million  one  hundred  and  thirteen  thousand  four  hundred 
and  twenty-two  dollars. 

The  average  expense  of  the  Florida  war,  carried  on  with 
only  a  few  hundred  Indians  in  the  swamps  of  that  country, 
has  been  from  two  to  five  millions,  from  1836  to  1840  —  a 
sum  nearly  equal  to  that  collected,  with  vast  labor,  as  the 
fruit  of  Christian  benevolence,  among  the  forty  millions  of 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 

But  the  expenses  of  war  are  not  confined  to  the  period 
during  which  the  war  lasts ;  for  it  is  the  common  maxim  of 
rulers,  in  time  of  peace  to  prepare  for  war.  The  sum  paid 
for  this  purpose  by  the  United  States  from  1791  to  1832,  a 
period  of  forty-one  years,  was  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven  millions,  or  nineteen  millions  annually.  This  was 
twelve  times  more  than  all  the  other  expenses  of  the  govern 
ment  during  the  same  period,  and  would  give  instruction  to 
all  the  children  of  the  United  States  for  twice  that  number  of 


400  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

years.  In  1837  and  1838,  we  paid  twenty-six  millions  an 
nually  for  the  same  purpose.  The  expenses  of  the  English 
government,  from  the  same  cause,  from  1816  to  1837,  a 
period  of  twenty-one  years  of  peace,  was  two  thousand  and 
ninety-one  millions  of  dollars,  or  one  hundred  millions  per 
year  —  sufficient  to  educate  her  entire  population  for  nearly 
seven  years.  If  we  suppose  the  expenses  of  the  United 
States  and  the  other  governments  of  Europe  to  be  only  half 
as  great  as  those  of  Great  Britain  for  war  purposes  during 
peace,  we  should  still  have  the  startling  aggregate  of  five 
hundred  millions  annually  —  a  sum  sufficient  for  the  educa 
tion  of  all  Europe  and  the  United  States  for  more  than  three 
years,  and  of  all  the  world  for  more  than  one  year.  If  the 
whole  world  expend  as  much  in  proportion  to  their  numbers 
for  war  purposes  during  peace,  it  would  form  the  frightful 
sum  of  one  thousand  six  hundred  millions  of  dollars  —  suffi 
cient  to  educate  all  its  population  three  and  a  half  years. 
Truly  this  is  a  peace  establishment  with  a  vengeance. 

These  statements  seem  more  like  the  dreams  of  disordered 
fancy  than  like  sober  fact.  But  they  are  most  painfully  true  ; 
nay,  they  fall  far  short  of  the  reality.  But,  instead  of  looking 
on  the  dark  side  of  the  picture,  as  I  expected  to  do  when  I 
began  these  statistics,  they  have  thrown  a  bright  beam  of 
promise  upon  the  future  condition  of  the  world.  They  show 
us  how  immense  are  the  pecuniary  capabilities  of  the  human 
family.  They  show  us  what  an  incalculable  amount  of  funds 
the  world  will  have  at  its  disposal,  for  the  promotion  of  sci 
ence,  literature,  and  religion,  when  they  shall  be  brought  to 
act  according  to  the  principles  of  reason  and  religion  ;  for 
all  that  now  goes  into  the  war  channel  will  then  be  consecrat 
ed  to  the  service  of  knowledge  and  benevolence.  In  spite 
of  all  the  oppressions  and  disadvantages  -under  which  the 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  401 

human  family  have  hitherto  labored,  they  have  been  able  to 
sustain  this  immense  war  tax  which  I  have  described.  Nay, 
I  have  mentioned  only  the  direct  expenses  of  war.  But  the 
losses  always  sustained  by  withdrawing  men  from  their  regu 
lar  pursuits,  by  blocking  up  the  outlets  of  trade,  by  idleness 
and  discouragement,  and  in  a  multitude  of  other  ways,  are 
far  greater.  In  addition  to  all  this,  in  most  countries  men 
have  been  compelled  to  sustain  the  extortions  of  tyrannical 
rulers.  Yet  has  the  world  borne  all  these  immense  taxes ; 
and  a  few  years  of  peace  are  generally  sufficient  to  enable  a 
nation  to  recover  its  pecuniary  independence.  How  vast, 
then,  will  be  its  surplus  pecuniary  resources  when  war  and 
oppression  shall  cease,  and  all  its  energies  can  be  devoted 
unobstructed  to  the  various  pursuits  of  business  !  Instead  of 
the  stinted  sums  which  men  are  now  persuaded,  with  great 
difficulty,  to  bestow  upon  objects  of  education  and  benevo 
lence,  and  which  leave  those  devoted  to  such  pursuits  to  dis 
couragement  and  heart  sickness,  because  their  hands  are  so 
tied  and  their  energies  so  cramped,  there  will  then  be  ready 
for  every  noble  object  more  than  is -wanted.  Millions  will 
then  be  substituted  for  thousands.  This  is  indeed  a  bright 
page  of  human  history,  on  which  we  are  permitted  to  gaze  in 
anticipation ;  and  it  affords  a  cheering  resting  place  for  the 
eye,  when  placed  in  contrast  with  the  terrific  waste  of  mind 
which  has  been  the  consequence  of  war. 

Do  I  seem  to  any  to  be  indulging  in  dreams  when  I  say 
that  most  assuredly  such  a  bright  period  will  come  ?  But 
do  they  doubt  that  the  Bible  predicts  unequivocally  a  period 
of  universal  peace,  and  the  prevalence  of  general,  if  not  uni 
versal,  benevolence  ?  In  such  a  state,  why  will  not  the  vast 
treasures  that  have  been  wasted  upon  the  destruction  of  men 
be  consecrated- to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  and  religion 
34  * 


402  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

through  all  the  earth  ?  —  objects  that  claim  the  first  regard  of 
every  benevolent  heart.  Assuredly  this  vision  is  not  imagi 
nation  ;  and  it  looms  up  in  the  future,  —  and  I  would  fondly 
hope  not  in  the  distant  future, —  a  bright  star  of  hope  for  this 
abused  and  down-trodden  world.  The  little  which  has  hitherto 
been  contributed  to  raise  man  out  of  the  slough  of  ignorance 
and  sin  has  accomplished  a  great  deal.  What  splendid  re 
sults,  then,  will  be  witnessed  when  ample  means  shall  be 
placed  within  the  reach  of  every  human  being  for  the  highest 
attainments  in  knowledge  and  holiness  ! 

Although  war  has  been  thus  preeminently  instrumental  in 
the  perversion  and  waste  of  human  intellect,  there  is  a  kin 
dred  evil  scarcely  less  hurtful  to  man's  highest  interests, 
though  more  unnoticed  in  its  operation.  I  refer  to  the  various 
oppressions  from  tyrannical  rulers  and  masters,  under  which 
the  human  family  have  been  sighing  and  groaning  for  thou 
sands  of  years.  If  I  were  to  draw  out  in  detail  the  physical 
sufferings  which  result  from  such  oppression,  I  could  reach  a 
tender  chord  of  sympathy  in  your  bosoms.  But  when  I  merely 
calculate  the  intellectual  loss  which  the  world  has  thereby 
sustained,  I  feel  that  I  can  draw  forth  no  responsive  sigh. 
And  yet  this  is  in  reality  a  darker  part  of  the  picture  than  the 
physical  suffering  presents ;  for  in  this  way  have  unnumbered 
millions  of  minds  been  shut  up  in  the  hopeless  dungeon  of 
ignorance  and  sin.  But  the  world  is  incapable  of  estimating 
its  loss,  because  it  has  never  enjoyed  the  blessing,  and  there 
fore  it  cannot  feel  that  loss.  Nor  can  I  describe  it.  I  will 
only  refer  you  to  one  dark  feature  in  that  domestic  oppression 
which  reigns  in  our  own  country,  and  for  which,  therefore, 
we  as  a  nation  are  responsible.  In  most  of  the  states  of  this 
Union  where  slavery  exists,  the  law  forbids  that  the  slave 
should  be  taught  to  read  by  severe  penalties ;  and  in  one  state, 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  \    '.\ 

at  least,  that  penalty,  upon  a  repetition  of  the  offence,  is  death. 
Now,  if  we  admit  all  the  reports  that  have  ever  been  circulated 
as  to  the  physical  cruelties  practised  upon  the  slave  to  be  true, 
they  are  hardly  worth  naming  in  comparison  with  this  effort 
to  stifle  and  crush  the  undying  souls  of  two  and  a  half  mil 
lions  of  our  inhabitants.  Nor  does  the  injury  stop  here  ;  for 
when  we  find  that  the  poor  black  man,  whose  intellect  has 
been  thus  crushed  into  the  dust  from  generation  to  generation, 
shows  less  of  mental  acumen  than  the  free  Caucasian,  we 
proudly  and  presumptuously  infer  his  intellectual  inferiority, 
and  hence  justify  his  enslaved  condition.  We  have,  however, 
the  testimony  of  missionaries  from  almost  every  tribe  under 
heaven,  which  demonstrates  that  the  minds  of  young  children 
every  where  exhibit  almost  equal  mental  strength  and  aptness 
to  learn.  Hence  the  slaves  of  our  own  land  might  have  risen 
as  high  on  the  scale  of  knowledge  and  civilization  as  the  free 
white  man  ;  and  the  immense  disparity  in  this  respect  which 
now  exists  may  all  be  imputed  to  their  degraded  condition  ; 
and  hence,  too,  the  world  must  hold  us  responsible  for  all  this 
mental  waste,  who  keep  the  chains  of  slavery  riveted  upon 
these  millions.  O,  this  is  a  fearful  responsibility  !  I  leave 
out  of  the  account  the  bodily  sufferings  of  the  slave.  He 
who  maltreats  my  body  injures  only  what  was  once  brute 
matter,  and  will  soon  be  brute  matter  again.  But  he  who 
mars  and  manacles  rny  soul  lays  a  ruthless  hand  upon  that 
immortal  principle  which  is  an  emanation  of  the  Deity,  which 
allies  me  to  the  Deity,  and  which  a  righteous  God  will  not 
see  abused  with  impunity. 

In  a  free  country  like  ours,  there  is  a  prodigious  waste  of 
mind  in  the  excitement  and  discussions  of  parly  politics.  The 
mental  efforts  devoted  often  to  a  gubernatorial,  and  especially 
a  presidential,  election  would  be  sufficient,  if  turned  into  the 


404  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

channels  of  literature  and  science,  to  raise  our  country  at 
once  to  the  highest  rank  on  the  scale  of  knowledge.  Did 
these  periodical  excitements  prepare  the  mind  to  engage  with 
greater  ardor  in  literary  pursuits,  they  ought  not  to  be  viewed 
as  a  waste  of  intellect ;  but  their  tendency  is  decidedly  the 
reverse.  No  men  are  so  little  likely  to  become  eminent  in 
science  or  literature  as  strong  political  partisans.  The  organs 
of  combativeness  and  self-esteem  soon  become  so  excessively 
developed  as  to  stifle  the  reflective  faculties.  In  a  few  cases, 
indeed,  these  electioneering  battles  must  be  fought  to  save  the 
liberties  of  the  country;  but,  in  general,  an  impartial  and 
uncommitted  man  will  see  that  there  is  scarcely  any  thing  to 
choose  between  the  rival  candidates  as  to  general  character. 
And  when  he  perceives  how  sharp  and  furious  the  contest 
becomes  between  the  partisans,  he  will  be  reminded  of  Dean 
Swift's  couplet  respecting  disputes  about  music  :  — 

"  Strange  that  such  high  disputes  should  be 
Twixt  tweedle  duin  and  tweedle  dee." 

Notwithstanding  the  awful  predictions  by  the  defeated  party 
of  the  loss  of  liberty  and  every  thing  else  valuable,  the  gov 
ernment  and  the  affairs  of  the  country  generally  move  on  as 
usual,  leaving  the  philosopher  and  the  Christian,  while  they 
rejoice  in  the  calm  that  has  succeeded,  to  lament  that  such 
powerful  interests  and  giant  efforts  should  not  be  devoted  to 
worthier  objects. 

In  the  strong  passion  for  accumulating  property  which  ex 
ists  among  men,  and  which  is  said  to  be  eminently  character 
istic  of  Americans,  we  find  another  source  of  a  waste  of 
mind.  In  this  country,  students,  like  others,  are  usually 
obliged  to  build  up  their  pecuniary,  as  well  as  literary,  for 
tunes.  The  consequence  is,  that  the  love  of  money  in  too 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  405 

many  cases  supplants  the  love  of  knowledge  ;  and  it  is  a 
painful  fact  that  a  vast  proportion  of  our  publicly  educated 
youth  close  their  literary  labors  with  the  clay  that  gives  them 
a  professional  license.  They  seem  to  have  submitted  to  the 
drudgery  of  an  eight  or  ten  years'  course  of  study  chiefly  for 
the  purpose  of  learning  how  to  accumulate  property.  Pro 
fessors  and  tutors  have  taken  them  to  the  Castalian  fountain, 
and  tried  to  make  them  drink  deeply  of  the  pure  waters. 
They  have  been  led  abroad  into  the  wide  fields  of  nature,  and 
shown  every  thing  there  "  sublimely  great  and  elegantly 
little."  They  have  been  taught  to  take  those  enlarged  views 
of  men  and  things,  and  of  their  own  responsibilities  and  capa 
bilities,  which  will  lead  them  to  sacrifice  selfish  and  petty 
worldly  interests  to  the  cause  of  science,  and  to  consider 
themselves  devoted  through  all  their  days  to  the  advancement 
of  human  knowledge  and  happiness.  And  now  behold  the 
magnificent  result.  They  have  attained  the  sublime  art  of 
acquiring  money  a  little  faster  than  the  farmer  or  mechanic  ; 
and  most  heroically  do  they  consecrate  the  remainder  of  life  to 
this  most  noble  enterprise.  They  have  been  so  long  so  near 
the  sun  of  science  that  their  Dasdalian  wings  are  melted  off; 
and  from  their  lofty  flights  through  the  wide  universe,  they 
quietly  settle  down  into  the  nutshell  of  a  lynx-eyed  money 
catcher.  To  apply  the  remark  of  the  poet,  with  a  slight 
variation,  — 

"  They  narrow  their  mind, 
And  to  money  give  up  what  was  meant  for  mankind." 

These  remaiks  may  seem  unreasonably  severe.  But  can 
the  fact  be  doubted  that  a  large  majority  of  educated  men  do 
give  up  almost  entirely  the  further  prosecution  of  science  and 
literature  after  they  are  established  in  one  of  the  learned 


406  WASTE   OF    MIND. 

professions  ?  And  how  few  ever  accomplish  more  than  to 
accumulate  a  moderate  fortune  by  a  diligent  attention  to  their 
profession  !  And  ought  a  man  who  has  enjoyed  so  many 
advantages,  and  held  converse  with  so  many  of  the  master 
minds  of  former  times,  —  ought  he  to  catch  none  of  their 
spirit,  and  to  be  willing  to  abandon  the  noble  pursuits  of 
knowledge,  and  to  be  satisfied  with  the  mere  ordinary  routine 
of  a  profession,  useful,  indeed,  but  requiring  scarcely  any  of 
the  acquisitions  which  he  has  made  during  his  education  — 
especially  when  the  continued  pursuit  of  some  branch  of  liter 
ature  or  science  would  make  him  more  eminent  and  success 
ful  in  that  profession  ?  But  the  difficulty  seems  to  be  that 
this  continued  devotion  to  literary  pursuits  would  make  his 
profession  less  profitable  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view.  Money, 
indeed,  is  not  to  be  despised  by  any  man ;  and,  after  all,  very 
few  of  our  professional  men  are  burdened  with  it.  If  it 
comes  into  a  man's  hands  as  the  fruit  of  his  intellectual 
labors  and  his  economy,  he  ought  to  be  thankful,  and  to 
make  a  wise  improvement  of  it.  But  I  complain  that  so 
many  should  consider  its  acquisition  as  the  chief  object  of  an 
education,  and  abandon  the  prosecution  of  science  and  litera 
ture,  because  the  two  objects  are  thought  to  be  incompatible. 
And  the  fact  is  that,  so  well  understood  is  this  incongruity,  a 
large  proportion  of  the  youth  in  our  colleges,  even  though 
not  compelled  to  it  by  poverty,  are  in  the  habit,  after  going 
through  them,  of  selling  off  the  standard  works  which  they 
study  there,  and  which  they  are  taught  to  regard  as  next  to 
the  Bible  in  value,  just  as  if  they  should  have  no  further  use 
for  them.  This  appears  to  me  to  be  the  same  almost  as  if 
the  mechanic  should  dispose  of  his  tools  after  he  had  learned 
the  use  of  them  by  a  seven  years'  apprenticeship.  How 
many  men,  also,  who  have  become  attached  to  some  branch 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  407 

of  literature  or  science  in  early  life,  soon  abandon  it,  on  en 
tering  upon  their  profession  ! — not,  surely,  because  it  would 
make  them  less  learned  or  respected,  but  because  they  find 
that  the  charlatans  with  whom  they  have  to  compete,  having 
no  learning  to  impede  them,  are  able  to  bear  away  the  pecu 
niary  palm.  In  this  case,  the  fault  lies  chiefly  with  the  com 
munity,  who  prefer  the  prompt,  pliable,  and  voluble  empiric 
to  the  more  modest  and  cautious,  yet  learned,  lawyer  or 
physician. 

In  the  early  relish  which  is  acquired,  in  the  present  state 
of  society,  for  things  artificial,  I  find  another  prolific  cause  of 
a  waste  of  mind.  God  has  filled  the  world  with  a  vast  vari 
ety  of  objects,  animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral,  far  more  at 
tractive  and  beautiful  than  any  result  of  man's  invention.  He 
has  scattered  them  in  immense  profusion  all  around  us,  and 
brought  them  into  contact  with  all  our  senses.  He  has  also 
implanted  in  the  human  soul  a  strong  love  for  these  objects. 
I  never  saw  a  young  child  who  did  not  exhibit  a  decided  rel 
ish  for  natural  objects.  How  eagerly  will  children  pluck  the 
opening  flower,  or  gather  up  the  sparkling  mineral,  or  chase 
the  gay  insect,  and  gaze  upon  the  brilliant  bird  !  Indeed, 
they  are  constitutionally  naturalists,  and  it  is  easy  to  excite  in 
them  so  much  enthusiasm,  that  they  will  forget  their  ordinary 
food,  if  you  will  lead  them  forth  into  the  fields,  and  point  out 
to  them  the  wonders  of  creation.  But  in  the  present  condi 
tion  of  society,  this  natural  taste  is  not  cultivated.  They  are 
sent  to  the  primary  school,  and  there  their  attention  is  turned 
to  subjects  that  have  little  connection  with  nature.  I  do  not 
complain  that  they  are  taught  grammar,  and  geography,  and 
history,  and  arithmetic  ;  but  I  do  complain  that  there  is  not 
mingled  with  these  studies,  so  dull  to  them,  some  instruction 
in  zoology,  botany,  and  mineralogy.  The  first  lines  of  these 


408  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

branches  might  be  taught  to  children  as  early  at  least  as  they 
learn  the  alphabet,  and  it  would  be  a  very  easy  matter  to 
make  four  fifths  of  them  no  mean  adepts  in  these  branches  in 
very  early  life,  and  that,  too,  without  interfering  at  all  with 
other  studies.  Once  call  into  action  their  enthusiasm  for  nat 
ural  history,  and  you  will  find  it  a  most  powerful  means  of 
preserving  them  from  idleness  and  wicked  companionship. 

But  instead  of  this  course,  evidently  pointed  out  by  the 
providence  of  God,  the  attention  of  children  is  directed  almost 
wholly  to  things  artificial.  The  boy  soon  learns  that  money 
is  the  most  important  thing  in  this  world,  because  it  will  pro 
cure  for  him  toys,  and  delicacies  for  the  palate  ;  and  as  he 
grows  older,  he  looks  forward  for  happiness  to  the  possession 
of  a  fashionable  equipage,  and  other  means  of  sensual  enjoy 
ment.  The  girl  finds  very  early  that  dress  and  personal 
appearance  are  the  grand  objects  for  which  she  should  live ; 
and  as  she  grows  up  to  womanhood,  this  is  too  apt  to  become 
the  ruling  passion  of  her  life.  Every  freak  and  every  change 
in  fashion  are  watched  with  more  carefulness  than  her  health, 
her  mental  improvement,  or  any  thing  else.  Thus  does  she 
unconsciously  waste  enough  of  mental  power  to  make  her 
very  wise  and  very  learned.  Indeed,  were  all  the  anxiety, 
and  study,  and  ingenuity,  and  expense,  which  woman  now 
devotes,  throughout  the  world,  to  these  objects,  to  be  given  to 
the  cultivation  of  her  mind,  permanently  endowed  female 
seminaries  would  be  as  common  as  colleges  and  universities, 
and  the  world  would  have  its  admired  galaxy  of  female  au 
thors,  encircling  the  whole  heavens  —  not,  as  now,  a  few 
scattered  stars,  scarcely  noticed. 

Let  me  not  be  thought,  however,  by  these  remarks,  so 
utilitarian  in  my  views  as  to  suppose  that  attention  to  personal 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  409 

appearance,  and  to  objects  generally  whose  principal  use  is  to 
gratify  the  love  of  the  harmonious  and  the  beautiful',  is  a  mere 
waste  of  money  and  of  mind.  The  elegant  symmetry  of 
Nature's  works,  and  the  lavish  manner  in  which  she  has 
adorned  her  infinitely  varied  productions,  often  for  no  assign 
able  cause  but  to  gratify  the  beholder,  teach  me  a  very  differ 
ent  lesson,  and  show  me  that  it  is  not  only  right,  but  a  duty, 
to  imitate  nature,  by  expending  time  and  money  to  give  an 
attractive  and  elegant  appearance  to  our  persons,  our  dwell 
ings,  our  streets,  and  indeed  to  all  the  products  of  our  labors, 
so  far  as  it  can  be  done  consistently  with  higher  duties.  If  a 
man  gives  that  time  and  attention  to  these  objects  which  are 
indispensable  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  or  if  he  devote 
to  them  that  wealth  which  should  have  been  bestowed  upon 
the  poor  and  the  distressed,  or  any  other  object  of  benevo 
lence,  who  would  not  say  that  he  was  doing  wrong,  morally 
wrong?  If  he  can  satisfy  the  just  claims  of  learning  and 
benevolence,  no  matter  how  much  of  his  surplus  time  and 
surplus  money  he  gives  to  objects  whose  chief  use  is  to  gratify 
the  taste  ;  and  I  doubt  not,  that  when  men  shall  spend  their 
time  and  property  more  as  God  would  have  them  than  they 
now  do,  a  much  greater  portion  will  be  devoted  to  works  of 
taste  and  ornament.  But  as  the  world  now  is,  with  so  much 
ignorance  to  be  enlightened,  and  misery  to  be  relieved,  when 
the  calls  of  learning  and  benevolence  are  so  loud  upon  us,  it 
is  a  most  difficult  point  to  determine  how  much  we  may  con 
secrate  to  purposes  of  mere  ornament.  And  I  complain,  that 
the  noble  powers  of  woman,  so  eminently  adapted,  if  turned 
into  the  right  channel,  to  bless  mankind,  should  so  extensively 
be  suffered  to  waste  themselves  upon  an  affair  comparatively 
so  unimportant  as  dress ;  especially  when  I  recollect,  that 
35 


410  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

"  Loveliness 

Needs  not  the  foreign  aid  of  ornament, 
But  is  when  unadorned  adorned  the  most." 

And  confident  am  I  that  such  would  not  be  the  case,  were 
the  constitutional  bias  of  the  young  for  natural  objects  more 
faithfully  cultivated,  and  artificial  objects  made  to  assume  in 
their  estimation  a  proper,  that  is,  a  subordinate  place. 

Another  most  pernicious  effect  resulting  from  this  artificial 
state  of  things  in  society,  is  that  strong  love  of  romance, 
which  now  almost  constitutes  a  universal  passion.  At  least 
one  fifth  part  of  all  the  works  published  in  this  country  are 
works  of  fiction ;  and  probably  one  half  of  the  works  actu 
ally  read  are  of  this  description.  And  they  are  devoured 
with  epicurean  greediness  by  almost  all  classes,  especially  by 
the  young.  Need  I  stop  to  convince  this  audience,  that  the 
time  and  mental  effort  devoted  to  the  preparation  and  perusal 
of  such  works  are  much  worse  than  wasted  ?  that  they  en 
gender  views  and  feelings  decidedly  hostile  to  thorough  mental 
discipline,  and  to  temporal  and  eternal  happiness?  Now,  if  a 
love  of  nature  were  early  and  thoroughly  cultivated  in  the 
youthful  bosom,  I  am  confident  that  usually  it  would  forestall 
the  love  of  fiction.  For  does  the  youth  resort  to  works  of 
romance  because  he  wishes  to  gratify  a  natural  taste  for  the 
new  and  the  beautiful  ?  Where  can  he  find  such  novelty  and 
such  beauty  as  nature  unfolds  ?  Is  it  a  love  of  variety  that 
makes  romance  so  fascinating  ?  Here,  too,  nature  is  as  su 
perior  to  human  invention  as  the  Author  of  nature  is  to  man. 
Or  is  it  a  love  of  the  marvellous  and  the  magnificent  that 
constitutes  the  chief  attraction  of  the  dreams  of  imagination  ? 
O,  where  are  the  wonders  and  sublimities  that  can  be  com 
pared  to  those  which  open  before  the  student  of  nature  at 
every  step  ?  —  wonders  of  fact,  and  not  of  fiction  ;  on  which, 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  411 

therefore,  the  mind  may  feast  continually  without  fear,  and 
find  all  its  powers  invigorated  and  refreshed.  In  short,  to 
him  who  has  cultivated  that  love  for  the  works  of  creation 
which  is  originally  implanted  in  all  our  hearts, 

"  God  makes  all  nature  beauty  to  his  eyef 
And  music  to  his  ear." 

And  yet  what  multitudes  there  are,  even  of  refined  and 
cultivated  minds,  to  whom  nature  is  but  a  synonyme  for  vul 
garity  ;  who  can  recite  fluently  every  tale  in  the  Waverieys 
and  the  Bozziana,  but  whose  knowledge  of  nature  is  limited 
to  an  acquaintance  with  a  few  roses,  dahlias,  and  other  exot 
ics,  whose  stamens  have  been  changed  to  petals  by  cultivation, 
so  as  to  have  lost  the  delicate  beauty  of  their  natural  state ! 

Gladly  would  I  linger  on  this  part  of  my  subject,  and  pre 
sent  other  arguments  to  win  the  young  to  the  study  and  love 
of  nature.  As  they  advance  in  life,  they  will  find  that  a  love 
of  artificial  objects  and  pleasures  will  pall  upon  the  mind, 
and  ere  long  be  succeeded  by  disgust.  But  a  genuine  love 
of  nature  clings  to  the  heart  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  life  ;  in 
adversity  as  well  as  in  prosperity;  in  sickness  as  well  as  in 
health  ;  even  to  extreme  old  age,  when  almost  every  other 
worldly  source  of  pleasure  is  dried  up.  Hear  the  testimony 
of  Hannah  More,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two.  "  The  only  one  of 
my  youthful  fond  attachments,"  says  she,  "  which  exists  still  in 
its  full  force,  is  a  passion  for  scenery,  raising  flowers,  and 
landscape  gardening."  Well,  indeed,  will  it  be  for  the  young, 
if  they  will  follow  the  example  of  this  venerable  woman,  and 
early  acquire  a  passion  for  scenery  and  flowers.  For  as  they 
pass  through  life,  they  will  find  the  world  often  frowning  upon 
them  ;  but  the  flowers  will  always  smile.  And  it  is  sweet,  in 
the  day  of  adversity,  to  be  met  with  a  smile. 


412  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

The  last  prolific  cause  of  mental  waste,  which  I  shall  men 
tion,  is  indolence  and  irresolution.  Among  the  vast  numbers 
of  men  capable  of  rising  to  eminence  in  art,  science,  or  lit 
erature,  and  of  making  a  deep  impression  on  the  world,  how 
few  confer  any  lasting  benefit  upon  their  generation,  by  their 
works,  inventions,  or  discoveries !  And  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  want  of  perseverance  —  in  other  words,  indolence  and 
irresolution  —  is  the  principal  cause  of  their  failure.  Go  to 
the  primary  school,  and,  among  a  hundred  boys  you  will 
usually  find  fifty  exhibiting  nearly  equal  natural  abilities,  and 
making  equal  progress  in  learning.  In  the  academy  and  the 
college  you  will  find  as  large  a  proportion,  between  whose 
talents  and  scholarship  you  will  see  scarcely  any  difference. 
Year  after  year,  they  will  move  forward  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
and  come  to  the  end  of  their  literary  course  so  nearly  abreast, 
that  it  requires  a  nice  application  of  the  merit  gauge  to  give 
them  a  difference  of  rank  on  the  scale  of  honorary  appoint 
ments  ;  and  the  most  sagacious  application  of  the  doctrine  of 
probabilities  will  not  enable  any  one  to  predict  with  confidence 
which  of  them  will  be  distinguished  above  his  fellows  in  fu 
ture  life.  But  let  the  history  of  those  boys  and  young  men, 
whether  from  the  primary  school,  the  academy,  or  the  college, 
be  consulted  at  the  end  of  their  lives,  and  you  will  scarcely 
find  a  dozen,  out  of  a  hundred,  who  have  risen  to  high  dis 
tinction  in  their  business  or  profession,  or  made  valuable  dis 
coveries,  or  left  a  deep  impression  upon  the  world.  The 
others  may  have  done  much  good  ;  but  why  have  they  not 
done  as  much  as  their  dozen  comrades,  who,  during  the 
years  of  their  elementary  education,  were  not  able  to  outstrip 
them  ?  We  must  allow  something  for  feeble  health,  and 
other  unforeseen  difficulties,  hedging  up  the  path  of  a  few. 
But  in  respect  to  the  great  body  of  these  men,  difference  in 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  413 

application  and  perseverance  will  alone  explain  their  difference 
of  success.  The  twelve  '  had  acquired,  during  their  early 
days,  an  ardent  love  of  knowledge,  and  a  deep  sense  of  their 
responsibilities  to  God  and  the  world,  and  the  result  was,  a 
strong  determination  to  make  use  of  the  vantage  ground  which 
they  had  attained,  for  pushing  their  conquests  still  farther  into 
the  dominions  of  art  and  science.  Having  prepared  them 
selves  by  an  elementary  acquaintance  with  the  circle  of 
knowledge,  they  selected  some  particular  department,  to  which 
taste  or  duty  invited,  and  concentrated  their  energies  upon  its 
thorough  examination  ;  being  convinced  that  he  who  attempts 
to  master  all  subjects,  though  he  may  become  respectable  in 
all,  can  be  accurate  and  successful  in  none.  Having  chosen 
their  field,  they  went  about  its  exploration  as  a  business  for 
life.  The  morning's  dawn  and  the  evening's  darkness  found 
them  still  at  their  work.  Those  seasons  which  most  men 
devote  to  relaxation  witnessed  in  them  little  more  than  a 
change  of  objects,  whereby  their  exhausted  energies  were 
recruited.  Time  they  regarded  as  a  treasure  too  rich  to  have 
any  of  it  wasted;  and  therefore  all  its  shreds  and  patches 
were  carefully  used.  The  difficulties  which  they  encountered 
in  their  researches  served  only  to  awaken  new  effort,  and 
every  new  conquest  gave  them  an  earnest  of  future  victories. 
Feeble  health  may  have  retarded  their  progress  ;  poverty's 
skeleton  hand  may  often  have  been  laid  with  a  crushing  weight 
upon  their  heads  ;  the  world  may  have  passed  them  by  in  cold 
neglect,  or  cast  upon  them  a  contemptuous  frown,  while  the 
discerning  and  liberal  few  may  not  have  found  them  out.  But 
the  unconquerable  spirit  within  them  stood  erect  in  spite  of  all 
these  obstructions.  The  delight  which  every  step  of  their 
progress  afforded  by  opening  new  wonders  before  them  ;  the 
increased  power  which  each  acquisition  gave  them  to  advance 
35* 


414  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

to  other  victories ;  the  desire  of  leaving  their  names  perma 
nently  inscribed  upon  the  history  of  man ;  and  perhaps  also 
those  higher  motives  to  diligence  derived  from  a  sense  of 
responsibility  to  Heaven  ;  all  these  motives  were  continually 
sounding  in  their  ears  the  onward  cry.  And  onward  they 
went,  triumphing  over  one  difficulty  after  another,  until  the 
world  at  last  confessed  their  superiority,  sought  from  them  the 
lessons  of  wisdom,  and  lavished  upon  them  its  honors.  But 
their  former  companions  lingered  in  the  race.  They  were 
wanting  in  the  untiring  industry  and  indomitable  spirit  of  per 
severance  which  these  twelve  men  exhibited,  and  therefore 
they  have  not  stood  forth  as  the  master  spirits  of  their  times, 
nor  secured  the  homage  of  the  world  ;  and  the  wave  of  ob 
livion  has  rolled  over  their  memories.  But  having  equal  tal 
ents  in  the  commencement  of  their  course  with  their  more 
energetic  companions,  their  failure  and  the  world's  loss  must 
be  imputed  to  their  indolence  and  irresolution. 

But  I  will  not  further  weary  your  patience  by  pointing  out 
other  causes  of  that  waste  of  mind  of  which  the  world  ex 
hibits  so  many  melancholy  examples.  Melancholy  indeed  is 
the  dark  catalogue  which  I  have  already  presented  ;  incalcu 
lable  the  amount  of  that  loss  which  the  world  has  always  sus 
tained,  and  still  sustains,  from  perverted  and  neglected  intel 
lect.  Now,  I  maintain  that  God  has  given  to  the  human  fam 
ily,  as  a  whole,  an  inalienable  right  to  all  the  intellectual  labor 
of  which  the  individuals  of  that  family  are  capable.  What 
ever  deficiency,  or  perversion,  or  waste,  there  is  in  those  la 
bors,  it  is  just  so  much  downright  robbery,  for  which  some 
body  is  accountable.  So  long,  however,  has  this  robbery  been 
practised,  that  the  world  has  become  insensible  to  its  rights, 
and  knows  not  how  to  estimate  its  loss ;  and  individuals  have 
forgotten  their  responsibility.  How  great  that  responsibility 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  415 

is,  the  views  which  I  have  presented  may  assist  us  in  deter 
mining.  Who  of  us  does  not  shudder  when  he  thinks  of 
that  deep  stain  of  guilt  which  rests  on  his  soul  who  tears  the 
wretched  African  from  his  home,  and  shuts  him  up  in  hope 
less  servitude  for  life  on  the  cotton,  rice,  and  sugar  planta 
tions  of  the  tropics  ?  Why  are  we  so  insensible  to  that  far 
darker  crime  by  which  a  whole  world  have  been  kept  in  igno 
rance  and  wretchedness  for  so  many  thousands  of  years? 
Probably  the  reason  is  that,  in  this  sense,  we  are  all  of  us 
slave  dealers  and  slave  holders ;  nay,  we  enslave  our  own 
souls. 

Such  views  as  I  have  presented  cannot  but  exalt  our  esti 
mation  of  literary  and  scientific  pursuits,  and  of  all  efforts 
which  are  made  to  promote  the  cause  of  education.  The 
heart  sickens  when  it  sees  how  many  and  how  powerful  are 
the  causes  in  operation  to  pervert,  and  crush,  and  waste  man's 
intellect,  and  to  keep  those  powers  grovelling  in  the  dust 
which  should  be  rising  and  soaring  among  the  stars.  But  it 
is  cheering  to  know  that  there  are  some,  and  in  this  country 
many,  who  are  striving  to  rescue  the  noblest  thing  on  earth, 
the  human  soul,  from  its  thraldom  and  degradation.  They 
stand,  indeed,  in  the  world's  Thermopylae,  and  struggle  against 
a  fearful  odds.  But  they  shall  not  fall  there,  like  the  band 
of  Leonidas.  Nay,  they  shall  see  the  deluge  of  ignorance 
and  sin  which  has  so  long  been  dashing  over  the  fairest  por 
tion  of  the  globe  beaten  back ;  and  the  dry  land  of  knowl 
edge  and  virtue  shall  appear,  and  the  flowers  of  hope  and 
happiness  shall  spring  up,  and  the  rich  fruits  of  science  and 
religion  shall  fill  the  garners  of  every  land. 

A  beautiful  bow  of  promise  already  spans  the  horizon  ; 
for,  when  Christianity  prevails  in  all  lands  and  fully  controls 
all  hearts,  then  those  powerful  causes  of  intellectual  waste 


416  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

and  perversion  which  I  have  pointed  out  shall  pass  away. 
Intemperance  in  every  form,  and  cruel  war,  and  fierce  party 
collisions,  and  inordinate  selfishness,  and  factitious  and  unnat 
ural  desires  shall  all  be  sacrificed  upon  the  altar  of  benevo 
lence  ;  and  man  shall  shake  off  his  indolence,  and  ample 
means  and  motives  shall  be  placed  before  the  whole  human 
family  for  intellectual  and  moral  culture.  Then  shall  such 
progress  be  made  in  science,  literature,  and  art  as  will  throw 
into  the  shade  all  former  bright  spots  in  human  history  ;  then 
will  the  world  learn  for  the  first  time  how  deep  has  been  her 
degradation,  how  incalculably  valuable  are  the  rights  of  which 
for  thousands  of  years  she  has  been  deprived,  and  how  truly 
frightful  has  been  the  waste  of  mind  since  the  beginning.  O, 
how  cheering  to  the  lover  of  science  to  look  forward  to  those 
halcyon  days  which  Christianity  tells  us  shall  assuredly  come  ! 
Imagination  need  not  fear  that  her  most  vivid  colors  can 
outdo  the  original ;  for  if  the  little  benevolence  and  the  little 
knowledge  which  have  been  in  the  world  hitherto  have  ac 
complished  so  much,  what  imagination  can  sketch  the  picture 
when  the  hearts  of  earth's  vast  population  shall  all  be  swayed 
by  benevolence,  and  their  minds  all  disciplined  and  expanded 
by  science  ? 

The  institution  whose  anniversary  we  celebrate  to-day  is  to 
me  an  earnest  that  such  a  bright  period  is  coming  on.  A 
brief  sketch  of  its  history  is,  therefore,  an  appropriate  close 
to  my  remarks. 

There  is  a  place  in  Essex  county,  called  Agawam  by  the 
natives,  which  was  visited  by  our  pilgrim  fathers  nine  years 
before  the  settlement  of  Plymouth,  and  of  which  Captain  John 
Smith,  of  Virginia,  gave  the  following  account  six  years  be 
fore  the  Mayflower  entered  Massachusetts  Bay.  u  Here," 
says  he,  "  are  many  rising  hills,  and  on  their  tops  and  de- 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  417 

scents  are  many  cornefields  and  delightful  groues.  On  the 
east  is  an  isle  of  two  or  three  leagues  in  length  —  the  one 
half  plain  marsh  ground,  fit  for  pasture  or  salt  ponds,  with 
many  fine  high  groues  of  mulberry  trees.  There  are  also 
okes,  pines,  walnuts,  and  other  wood,  to  make  this  place  an 
excellent  habitation."  Nineteen  years  afterwards,  the  pil 
grims  located  themselves  in  this  spot ;  and,  more  than  one 
hundred  years  after,  two  young  ladies  had  made  the  pleasant 
village  which  had  sprung  up  there  the  seat  of  a  flourishing 
female  seminary.  God  had  greatly  smiled  upon  their  efforts ; 
for  while  they  placed  their  standard  of  literary  attainments 
high,  religion,  not  nominally  only,  but  practically,  was  made 
paramount  to  every  thing  else.  The  consequence  was,  that 
Ipswich  female  seminary  soon  attracted  the  attention,  not  only 
of  the  wise  and  the  good  in  our  own  land,  but  even  of  visitors 
from  Europe ;  for  it  sent  a  benign  influence  to  the  remotest 
portions  of  this  country,  and  even  to  far  distant  heathen  lands. 
Its  moulding  power  gave  to  the  female  character  that  happy 
shape  which,  while  it  fitted  woman  for  great  energy  of  action, 
did  not  hide  those  milder  virtues  and  that  grace  of  manners 
which  make  her  influence  almost  irresistible  over  the  human 
heart. 

The  ladies  who  had  charge  of  this  seminary  were  not  in 
sensible  to  the  blessings  with  which  God  had  crowned  their 
labors.  They  had  the  joy  of  witnessing,  from  month  to  month 
and  from  year  to  year,  a  silent  yet  transforming  divine  influ 
ence,  whereby  a  large  proportion  of  all  who  came  there 
unconverted  returned  to  their  paternal  roof  with  the  new  song 
of  redeeming  love  upon  their  lips.  They  went  back,  also, 
with  a  new  and  deeper  sense  of  their  responsibilities  to  their 
fellow-beings,  and  with  a  strong  determination  henceforth  to 
devote  the  energies  of  their  minds  to  the  cause  of  human 


418  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

improvement  and  happiness.  But  as  these  teachers  mused 
on  the  subject,  often  would  the  inquiry  arise,  How  shall  the 
blessings  of  our  institution  be  perpetuated  ?  Often,  when  the 
labors  of  the  day  were  ended,  and  the  silence  of  evening  was 
broken  only  by  the  whip-poor-will's  song  or  the  distant  surf 
breaking  on  the  shore,  would  they  muse  upon  this  question 
until  the  fire  burned  within  them,  and  an  irrepressible  desire 
arose  to  do  something  more  than  they  had  done  for  placing 
the  means  of  education  permanently  within  the  reach  of  the 
daughters  of  America  —  especially  tho.se  whose  pecuniary 
means  are  small,  but  to  whom  Providence  has  made  up  in 
mind  what  is  wanting  in  money.  As  they  cast  their  eyes 
over  the  land,  though  colleges  and  universities  met  them  at 
almost  every  step,  not  a  single  permanent  female  seminary 
could  be  found.  In  many  places,  such  schools  had  risen 
up  and  become  distinguished  while  some  able  teacher  was 
at  their  head ;  but  as  soon  as  she  was  gone,  the  glory  of 
the  institution  departed.  Their  own  would  probably  share 
the  same  fate.  Already  did  the  occasional  sinking  of  nature, 
under  their  arduous  labors,  remind  them  that  those  labors 
must  soon  forever  cease.  But  could  an  institution  like  theirs 
be  moderately  endowed  by  a  benevolent  public,  so  that 
rooms,  and  apparatus,  and  books  should  be  gratuitously  fur 
nished,  the  same  system  of  instruction  might  pass  from 
teacher  to  teacher  through  successive  generations.  After 
long  deliberation  and  much  prayer,  one  of  these  teachers 
resolved  to  consecrate  herself  for  the  remainder  of  life,  if 
necessary,  to  carry  this  plan  into  effect.  The  other  has  not, 
indeed,  been  permitted  to  build  the  temple ;  but  it  was  not 
because,  like  David,  she  was  unfit,  but  because  an  enfeebled 
constitution  has  compelled  her  to  retire  from  the  arduous 
duties  of  public  instruction  ;  though  I  am  happy  to  say  that 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  419 

she  is  able  to  fill  a  private  station  with  great  dignity,  useful 
ness,  and  happiness. 

The  plan  was  thus  laid,  and  the  agent  ready  for  the  work  ; 
but  what  an  herculean  task  to  carry  it  into  execution!  \Vlio 
could  be  made  to  believe  that  permanence  in  a  female  semi 
nary  was  desirable  ?  Who,  especially,  could  be  persuaded  to 
give  money  for  an  enterprise  of  so  doubtful  utility  and  uncer 
tain  success  ?  I  believe  the  effort  must  have  been  a  failure, 
if,  in  the  first  place,  the  prime  mover  had  not  been  a  woman ; 
if,  in  the  second  place,  she  had  not  in  the  outset  appealed  to 
woman ;  and  if,  in  the  third  place,  she  had  not  acquired  so 
firm  a  conviction  of  the  excellence  of  her  cause  as  to  feel 
assured  that  God  would  ultimately  make  it  triumph  —  so  that 
coldness,  ridicule,  and  enmity  would  produce  no  effect  but  to 
stimulate  her  to  greater  efforts  and  more  fervent  prayer. 
Yes,  she  did  first  appeal  to  women;  and,  to  the  everlasting 
honor  of  the  ladies  of  Ipswich,  be  it  known  that  they  raised 
a  purse  of  five  hundred  dollars  to  give  the  first  impulse  to 
the  cause ;  and,  what  is  still  more  to  their  credit,  they  did  this 
when  they  knew  that  the  proposed  seminary  would  be  located 
in  some  other  part  of  the  country.  This  was  soon  increased 
to  one  thousand  dollars  by  other  ladies ;  and  if  that  sum  had 
not  been  raised,  probably  the  walls  of  this  seminary  would 
never  have  gone  up.  Thus  the  prompt  impulse  of  woman's 
generous  heart  has  secured  that  object  which  man's  cold  wis 
dom  would  have  deemed  quixotic,  but  which  he  is  now  willing 
to  acknowledge  to  be  most  noble  in  character  and  rich  in 
promise. 

It  cannot  be  expected  that,  on  this  occasion,  I  should  go 
into  minute  details  respecting  the  means  used  to  advance  this 
enterprise,  and  the  many  difficulties  which  have  been  over 
come  to  bring  it  into  its  present  condition.  There  is  but  one 


420  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

individual  who  could  write  such  a  history  ;  nor  could  even  she 
give  us  an  adequate  idea  of  the  toils  and  sacrifices  which  this 
great  work  has  cost  —  how  hard  it  was  at  first  to  gain  the  ear 
of  the  Christian  public  long  enough  to  unfold  the  plan ;  how 
much  harder  still  to  make  even  a  few  believe  in  its  feasibil 
ity  ;  how  the  way  seemed  often  so  hedged  up  that  prayer  was 
the  only  resort ;  and,  what  was  worse  to  bear  with  a  Christian 
spirit,  how  even  influential  fellow-Christians  endeavored  to 
put  down  the  enterprise  by  scorn  and  ridicule.  Even  most 
of  us,  who  have  viewed  it  with  deep  interest  from  the  begin 
ning,  will  recollect  how  the  pleadings  of  its  eloquent  advocate 
produced  in  us  only  faith  enough  to  say  to  her,  We  admire 
the  plan,  and  wish  it  might  succeed,  and  any  influence  we 
possess  shall  be  cheerfully  given  to  it ;  but  you  must  expect 
a  hard  struggle  to  accomplish  it.  And,  in  fact,  while  we  could 
not  but  speak  encouraging  words,  there  was  within  us  a  faint 
ing  of  the  heart  in  anticipation  of  defeat.  We  forgot  the 
sentiment  of  Elliot,  that  "  prayers  and  pains  through  Jesus 
Christ  can  do  any  thing."  And  as  we  look  around  us  to-day, 
we  stand  rebuked  for  our  misgivings  and  unbelief.  Little 
did  I  ever  imagine  that  my  eyes  would  be  allowed  to  behold 
one  of  the  finest  edifices  in  New  England  so  soon  completed, 
and  with  its  two  hundred  inmates  already  exerting  a  strong 
influence  in  arresting  the  waste  of  female  mind  in  our  coun 
try.  I  had  thought  of  it  as  one  of  the  visions  which  the  early 
Christian  friends  of  this  institution  might  be  permitted  to  enjoy, 
long  after  they  had  gone  to  their  final  rest,  as  they  came  down 
hither  on  some  errand  of  mercy.  But  to  most  of  them  the 
vision  is  granted  this  side  the  grave  ;  and  to-day  are  they  per 
mitted  to  mingle  their  congratulations  at  the  completion  of 
this  noble  enterprise,  and  to  unite  in  thanksgiving  to  that  infi 
nite  Being  whose  blessing  has  crowned  every  effort  to  advance 
it  with  success. 


WASTE    OF    MIND.  421 

The  blessing  of  God,  my  friends,  is  indeed  to  be  specially 
acknowledged,  on  this  occasion,  as  having  been  experienced 
from  the  first  conception  of  this  institution  to  its  completion. 
Those  who  have  borne  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  enterprise 
have  found  his  providence  their  cloud  by  day  and  their  pillar 
of  fire  by  night,  and  therefore  their  courage  has  not  fainted. 
The  success  of  the  seminary  thus  far  has  been  only  a  fulfil 
ment  of  the  promise  of  Jehovah,  Them  that  honor  me  I  will 
honor ;  for  holiness  to  the  Lord  was  engraved  upon  its  foun 
dations,  and  stands  out  in  bold  relief  upon  the  top  stone. 
From  the  first  it  has  been  distinctly  understood  that,  while  an 
elevated  and  thorough  system  of  instruction  should  be  here 
pursued,  religion  should  receive  a  still  higher  attention,  and 
take  the  precedence  of  every  thing  else.  This  I  conceive  to 
be  the  grand  fundamental  principle  on  which  the  institution 
rests,  and  the  secret  of  all  its  success  hitherto,  and  the  only 
ground  of  hope  for  the  future.  God  has  set  his  seal  to  this 
principle  by  the  almost  constant  presence  of  that  divine  energy 
by  which  the  soul  is  converted.  And  while  that  principle  is 
practically  regarded,  it  will  continue  to  be  blessed.  Its  teach 
ers,  its  present  mode  of  instruction,  its  peculiarities  of  do 
mestic  arrangement,  may  all  be  changed  without  essentially 
affecting  its  prosperity,  so  long  as  this  principle  is  made  the 
pole  star  of  action.  Nay,  its  influence  shall  become  wider 
and  wider,  deeper  and  deeper.  By  means  of  its  example  and 
its  well-educated  pupils,  it  shall  operate  all  over  the  land  to 
raise  the  standard  of  female  education,  and  to  rescue  woman 
from  the  perversion  and  waste  of  her  powers.  Man,  too, 
shall  come  under  its  humanizing  influence,  and  be  awakened 
to  new  efforts  in  the  cause  of  learning  and  benevolence.  Nor 
shall  that  influence  be  limited  to  the  civilized  portions  of  our 
continent.  Its  daughters  shall  go  forth,  as  some  have  already 
3G 


422  WASTE    OF    MIND. 

gone,  with  minds  well  disciplined  and  hearts  burning  with  a 
desire  to  bless  mankind,  to  the  persecuted  red  man  of  our 
western  wilds,  and  to  the  degraded  heathen  and  Mohammedan 
of  fur  distant  continents  and  islands  ;  and  in  every  quarter  of 
the  globe  shall  the  ignorant,  the  oppressed,  and  the  miserable, 
especially  abused  and  suffering  woman,  call  down  a  blessing 
upon  its  founders  and  its  pupils.  It  shall  add  new  power  to 
that  lever  which  benevolence  has  placed  beneath  the  regions 
of  ignorance  and  sin,  and  which  is  fast  heaving  them  up  into 
the  daylight  of  Christianity  and  science.  It  shall  form  one 
of  those  radiant  points  from  which  the  blended  rays  of  knowl 
edge  and  religion  will  go  forth,  to  aid  in  forming  that  halo  of 
light  which  shall  at  length  encircle  the  whole  earth,  and  make 
it  noonday  among  all  the  nations. 


„    "LLITS,  SAMPSON,  A  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

HISTORY. 

tytlttttt. 
HISTORY  OP  THE   REIGN  OP  PHILIP  II, 

By  William  H.  Prescott.     With  Portraits,  Maps,  Plates,  &o. 
Two  volumes,  8vo.     Price,  in  muslin,  $2  per  volume. 

The  reign  of  Philip  Vie  Second,  embracing  the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
IB  one  of  the  most  important  as  well  as  interesting  portions  of  modern  history. 
It  is  nect-ssary  to  glance  only  at  some  of  the  principal  event*.  The  War  of  the 
Netherlands  —  the  model,  so  to  say,  of  our  own  glorious  War  of  the  Revolution 
—  tin-  Siege  of  Malta,  anil  its  memorable  defence  by  the  Knights  of  St.  John;  the 
brilliant  career  of  Don  John  of  Austria,  the  hero  of  I.epanto;  the  Quixotic  adven- 
tures  of  Don  Sebastian  of  Portugal ;  the  conquest  of  that  kingdom  by  thf  Duke 
of  Alba  ;  Philip's  union  with  Mary  of  England,  and  his  wars  with  Elizabeth,  with 
tin-  story  of  the  Invincible  Armada;  the  Inquisition,  with  its  train  of  woes;  the 
rebellion  of  the  Moriscos,  and  the  cruel  manner  in  which  it  was  avenged  —  these 
form  some  of  the  prominent  topics  in  the  foreground  of  the  picture,  which  pre 
sent*  a  crowd  of  subordinate  details  of  great  interest  in  regard  to  the  character 
iiinl  court  of  Philip,  and  to  the  institutions  of  Spain,  then  in  the  palmy  days  of 
her  prosperity.  The  materials  for  this  vast  theme  wore  to  be  gathered  from  every 
part  of  Europe,  and  the  author  has  for  many  years  been  collecting  them  from  the 
archives  of  different  capitals.  The  archives  of  Simancas,  in  particular,  until  very 
lately  closed  against  even  the  native  historian,  have  been  opened  to  his  researches; 
and  his  collection  has  been  further  enriched  by  MSS.  from  some  of  the  principal 
houses  in  Spain,  the  descendants  of  the  great  men  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Such 
a  collection  of  original  documents  has  never  before  been  made  for  the  illustration 
of  t  bis  period. 

The  two  volumes  now  published  bring  down  the  story  to  the  execution  of 
Counts  Egmont  and  Hoorn  in  1568,  and  to  the  imprisonment  and  death  of  Don 
Carlos,  whose  mysterious  fate,  so  long  the  subject  of  simulation,  is  now  first  ex 
plored  by  the  light  of  the  authentic  records  of  Simancas. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  REIGN  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA, 
The  Catholic, 

By  W.   H.  Prescott.     With  Portraits.     Three  volumes,   8vo. 
Price,  in  muslin,  jf>2  per  volume. 

"  Mr.  Prescott's  merit  chiefly  consists  in  the  skilful  arrangement  of  his  materi 
als,  in  the  spirit  of  philosophy  which  animates  the  work,  and  in  a  clear  ami  ele 
gant  style  that  charms  and  interests  the.  reader.  His  book  is  one  of  the  most 
successful  historical  productions  of  our  time.  The  inhabitant  of  another  world, 
beseems  to  have  shaken  oil"  the  prejudices  of  ours.  In  n  word,  lie  has.  in  every 
respect,  made  a  most  valuable  addition  to  our  historical  literature."  —  Edinburgh 
Keview. 


PHILLIPS,  SAMPSON,  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS 

HISTORY  OF  THE  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO, 

With  the  Life  of  the  Conqueror,  Fernando  Cortez,  ai\d  a  Vie^ 
of  the  Ancient  Mexican  Civilization.  By  W.  H.  Prescott. 
With  Portrait  and  Maps.  Three  volumes,  8vo.  Price,  in  mus 
lin,  $2  per  volume. 

"  The  more  closely  we  examine  Mr.  Prescott's  work  the  more  do  we  find  cause 
to  commend  his  diligent  research.  His  vivacity  of  manner  and  discursive  obser 
vations  scattered  through  notes  as  well  as  text,  furnish  countless  proofs  of  his 
matchless  industry.  In  point  of  style,  too,  he  ranks  with  the  ablest  English  his 
torians  ;  and  paragraphs  may  be  found  in  his  volumes  in  which  the  grace  aud 
eloquence  of  Addison  are  combined  with  Robertson's  majestic  cadence  and  Gib 
bon's  brilliancy."  —  Athenceum. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  CONQUEST  OF  PERU ; 

With  a  Preliminary  View  of  the  Civilization  of  the  Incas.  By 
W.  H.  Prescott.  With  Portraits,  Maps,  &c.  Two  vols.,  8vo. 
Price,  in  muslin,  $2  per  volume. 

"  The  world's  history  contains  no  chapter  more  striking  and  attractive  than 
that  comprising  the  narrative  of  Spanish  conquest  in  the  Americas.  Teeming 
with  interest  to  the  historian  and  philosopher,  to  the  lover  of  daring  enterprise 
and  marvellous  adventure,  it  is  full  of  fascination.  A  clear  head  and  a  sound 
judgment,  great  industry  and  a  skilful  pen,  are  needed  to  do  justice  to  the  sub 
ject.  These  necessary  qualities  have  been  found  united  in  the  person  of  an  ac 
complished  American  author.  Already  favorably  known  by  his  histories  of  the 
eventful  and  chivalrous  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  of  the  exploits  of 
the  Great  Marquis  and  his  iron  followers,  Mr.  Prescott  has  added  to  his  well- 
merited  reputation  by  his  narrative  of  the  Conquest  of  Peru."  —  Blackwood. 

Mr.  Prescott's  works  are  also  bound  in  more  elaborate  styles, 
—  half  calf,  half  turkey,  full  calf,  and  turkey  antique. 


THE  HISTORY  OP  MASSACHUSETTS, 

By  Rev.  John  Stetson  Barry.  To  be  comprised  in  three  vol 
umes,  octavo.  Volume  I.  embracing^the  Colonial  Period,  du\.u 
to  1692,  now  ready.  Volumes  II.  and  III.  in  active  prepara 
tion.  Price,  in  muslin,  $2  per  volume. 

Extracts  from  a  Letter  from  Mr.  Prescott,  the  Historian. 

BOSTON,  June  8, 1855. 
Messrs.  Phillips.  Sampson,  &  Co. 

Gentlemen,  —  The  History  is  based  on  solid  foundations,  as  a  glance  at  the  ai 
fcorities  will  show. 

The  author  has  well  exhibited  the  elements  of  the  Puritan  character,  which  ha 
has  evidently  studied  with  much  care.  His  style  is  perspicuous  and  manly,  frte 
from  affectation;  and  he  merits  the  praise  of  a  conscientious  endeavor  to  be  im 
partial. 

The  volume  must  be  found  to  make  a  valuable  addition  to  our  stores  of  colonial 
history.  Truly  yours. 

WILLIAM  H.  PKESCOTT. 


PHILLIPS,  SAMPSON,  &  CO.'S   PUBLICATIONS. 

*s^~~*- 

fume, 

THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND, 

From  the  Invasion  of  Julius  Csesar  to  the  Abdication  of  Jamea 
II.,  1688.  By  David  Hume,  Esq.  A  new  edition,  with  the 
author's  last  corrections  and  improvements  ;  to  which  is  pre 
fixed  a  short  account  of  his  life,  written  by  himself.  Six  vol 
umes,  with  Portrait.  Black  muslin,  40  cents  per  volume  ;  in 
red  muslin,  50  cents  ;  half  binding,  or  library  style,  50  cents 
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The  merits  of  this  history  are  too  well  known  to  need  comment.  Despite  the 
author's  predilections  in  favor  of  the  House  of  Stuart.  he  is  the  historian  most 
respected,  and  most  generally  re:id.  Kven  the  brilliant  Mticaulay,  thousrh  seek 
ing  to  establish  an  antagonistic  theory  with  respect  to  the  royal  prerogative,  did 
not  choose  to  enter  the  li^ts  with  Hums,,  hut  after  a  few  chapters  hy  way  of  cur 
sory  review,  began  his  history  where  his  great  predecessor  had  left  off. 

No  work  in  the  language  can  take  the  pUce  of  this,  at  least  for  the  present 
century.  And  nowhere  can  it  he  found  accessible  to  the  general  reader  for  any 
thing  like  the  price  at  which  this  handsome  issue  is  furnished. 

These  standard  histories,  Hume,  (iihhnn,  .Miicaulay,  and  Lingard,  are  known  aa 
the  Boston  Library  Etlititm.  For  uniformity  of  style  and  durability  of  binding, 
quality  of  paper  and  printing-  they  are  the  cheapest  books  ever  offered  to  tho 
American  public,  and  the  best  and  most  convenient  editions  published  in  this 
country. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND, 

From  the  Accession  of  James  II.  By  Thomas  Babington  Ma- 
caulay.  Four  volumes,  12mo.,  with  Portrait.  Black  muslin,  40 
cents  per  volume  ;  red  muslin,  50  cents  ;  library  style  and 
half  binding,  50  cents;  calf,  extra,  $1.25. 

"  The  all-accomplished  Mr.  Macauliiy,  the  most  brilliant  and  captivating  of 
English  writers  of  our  own  day.  seems  to  have  been  born  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
making  Knglish  history  aa  fasgiuatiug  aa  one  of  Scott's  romances."  —  AorUi  Amer- 
icun  Keview. 

"  The  great  work  of  the  age.  While  every  page  affords  evidence  of  great  re 
search  and  unwearied  labor,  giving  a  most  impressive  view  of  the  period,  it  ha* 
all  the  interest  of  an  historical  romance."  —  Baltimore  l\itriot, 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE   DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  RO 
MAN  EMPIRE, 

By  Edward  Gibbon,  Esq.     With  Notes  by  Rev.  H.  H.  Milman. 
A."  new  Edition.     To  which  is  added  a  complete  Index  of  the 


PHILLIPS,   SAMPSON,   A  CO.'S  PUBLICATION. 

whole  work.     Six  volumes,  with  Portrait.     12mo.,  muslin,  40 
cents  per  volume;  red  muslin,    50   cents;  half  binding,  or  li 
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"We  commend  it  as  the  best  library  edition  extant."  —  Boston  Transcript. 
"The  publishers  are  now  doing  an  essential  service  to  the  rising  generation  in 
placing  within  their  reach  a  work  of  such  acknowledged  merit,  and  so  absolute 
ly  indispensable."  —  Baltimore  American. 

"  Such  an  edition  of  this  English  classic  has  long  been  wanted ;  it  is  «t  sice 
convenient,  economical,  and  elegant."  —  Home.  Journal. 


f  inprfc, 

A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND, 

From  the  first  Invasion  by  the  Romans  to  the  Accession  of 
William  and  Mary  in  1688.  By  John  Lingard,  D.  D.  From 
the  last  revised  London  edition.  In  thirteen  volumes ;  illus 
trated  title  pages,  and  portrait  of  the  author.  12mo.,  muslin. 
Price,  75  cents  per  volume. 

"  This  history  has  taken  its  place  among  the  classics  of  the  English  language." 
—  Lowell  Courier. 

"  It  is  infinitely  superior  to  Hume,  and  there  is  no  comparison  between  it  and 
Macaulay's  romance.  Whoever  has  not  access  to  the  original  monuments  will 
find  Dr.  Lingard'a  work  the  best  one  he  can  consult."  —  Brownswi's  Review. 

"  Lingard's  history  has  been  long  known  as  the  best  history  of  England  ever 
written ;  but  hitherto  the  price  has  been  such  as  deprived  all  but  the  most 
wealthy  readers  of  any  chance  of  possessing  it.  Now,  however,  its  publication 
has  been  commenced  in  a  beautiful  style,  and  at  such  a  price  that  no  studeut  of 
history  need  fail  of  its  acquisition."  —  Albany  Transcript. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  OF  1848, 

By  Alphonse  de  Lamartine.  Translated  by  F.  A.  Durivage 
and  William  S.  Chase.  In  one  volume,  octavo,  with  illustra 
tions.  Price,  in  muslin,  $2.25. 

Same  work,  in  a  12mo.  edition,  muslin,  75  cents  ;  sheep,  90  cents. 
A  most  graphic  history  of  great  events,  by  one  of  the  principal  actors  therein. 
"  The  day  will  come  when  Lamartine,  standing  by  the  gate-post  of  the  Hotel  de 
Ville.  and  subduing  by  his  eloquence  the  furious  passions  of  the  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  delirious  revolutionists,  who  sought  they  knew  not  what  at  tne 
hands  of  the  self-constituted  Provisional  Government  of  1848,  will  be  commemo 
rated  in  Btoue,  on  canvas,  and  in  song,  as  the  very  impersonation  of  moral  sub 
limity."  —  Meth.  Quarterly  Review. 

"  No  fitting  mete-wand  hath  To-day 
For  measuring  spirits  of  thy  stature,  — 
Only  the  Future  can  reach  up  to  lay 
The  laurel  on  that  lofty  nature.  — 
Bard,  who  with  some  diviner  art 
Hast  touched  the  bard's  true  lyre,  a  nation's  heart." 

James  llusiell  Lowell,  '•  To  Lamartine." 


PHILLIPS,  SAMPSON,  A  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

9x1*. 

HISTORY  UP  KANZAS  AND  NEBRASKA, 

With  a  Map.     Compiled  with  the  assistance  of  the  New  Eng. 

land  Emigrant  Aid  Society,  by  Rev.  E.  E.  Hale.     Price,  in 

muslin,  75  cents. 

This  work  is  the  result  of  labor  and  research,  and  will  be  found  invaluable  to 
those  who  contemplate  removing  to  Kanzas,  as  well  as  to  those  who  for  other  rea 
sons  would  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  geography  an(j  capabilities  of  the  territo 
ries.  The  extraordinary  scenes  which  have  transpired  during  their  recent  rapid 
settlement  are  sufficient  to  attract  the  public  attention  etrongly  to  whatever 
may  give  authentic  information. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  CUBA, 

Or  Notes  of  a  Traveller  in  the  Tropics.     By  M.  M.  Eallou.     In 
one  volume,  12mo.,  with  illustrations.     Price,  75  cents. 
In  this  volume  Mr.  I5allou  has  given  a  well-written,  but  concise  history  of  Cuba 
from  its  discovery  to  the  present  time.     Following  this  the  author  endeavors  to 
place  the  character  and  manners  of  the  people  and  the  scenery  of  the  beautiful 
island   directly   before  the  reader's  mental  vision.     Authentic  and  valuable  in 
matter,  attractive  in  manner,  the  book  combines  greater  merits  than  any  other 
similar  work. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  CHURCH  IN  HUNGARY 

From  the  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  to  1850.  With  ref 
erence  also  to  Transylvania.  Translated  by  the  Rev.  J.  Craig, 
I).  D.,  Hamburg.  With  an  Introduction  by  J.  II.  Merle  D' Au- 
bign6,  D.  D.,  President  of  the  Theological  School  of  Geneva* 
550  pages.  Price,  $1.25. 

"This  is  a  translation  of  a  Gorman  work,  of  srroat  reliability  and  value.  The 
matter  it  contains  has  been  collated  from  a  large  mass  of  public  and  private  doc 
uments,  and  every  pains  has  apparently  been  taken  to  render  it  what  it  professes 
to  be,  a  complete  History  of  Protestantism  in  Hungary.  The  hearty  indorse 
ment  of  th"  work  contained  in  the  introductory  chapter,  by  l>r.  Merle  D'Auhignt, 
the  distinguished  author  of  the  'History  of  the  Great  Reformation,'  will  nol 
fail  to  secure  for  the  bn.,k  the  confidence  of  the  Christian  public,  while  it*  attrac 
tive  style  and  instructive  character  entitle  it  to  a  place  in  the  library  of  the  cler 
gyman,  the  Sabbath  school,  and  the  private  Christrm."--  A'i(h'.<«"/  /-'/•". 


PHILLIPS,  SAMPSON.  &  GO'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

ESSAYS,  REVIEWS,  AND  LECTURES. 


ESSAYS,  BY  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON, 

First  Series,  in  one  volume,  12mo.     Price,  $1.  Second  Series, 
in  one  volume,  12rao.     Price,  $1. 

It  is  too  late  to  present  any  labored  analysis  of  the  writings  of  Emerson.  —  too 
late  to  set  down  any  eulogy.  "Whoever  loves  to  deal  with  first  principles,  and  is  not 
deterred  from  grappling  with  abstract  truths,  will  find  in  these  essays  a  rare  pleas 
ure  in  the  exercise  of  his  powers.  The  popular  ridicule  which  was  heaped  upon 
the  so-called  transcendental  literature,  at  least  so  far  as  Emerson  is  concerned, 
has  passed  away  ;  and  these  volumes  are  universally  admitted  to  be  among  the 
most  valuable  contributions  to  the  world's  stock  of  ideas  which  our  ago  has  fur 
nished.  Every  page  bears  the  impress  of  thought,  but  it  is  thought  subtilized, 
and  redolent  of  poetry.  Obscurity  there  is  none,  save  to  the  incapable  or  the 
prejudiced,  or  to  those  averse  to  metaphysical  speculations. 

NATURE  ;  ADDRESSES  AND  LECTURES, 

By  R.  W.  Emerson.     In  one  volume,  12mo.     Price,  $1. 

REPRESENTATIVE  MEN, 

Seven  Lectures,  by  R.  "W.  Emerson.     In  one  volume,   12mo 

Price,  $1. 

"  It  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  fascinating  books  ever  written,  whether  we 
consider  its  subtile  verbal  felicities,  its  deep  and  shrewd  observation,  its  keen  crit 
icism.  its  wit  or  learning,  its  wisdom  or  beauty.  For  fineness  of  wit,  imagination, 
observation,  satire,  ai.  1  sentiment,  the  book  hardly  has  its  equal  in  American  lit 
erature."  —  E.  P.  }y  hippie. 

"It  is  a  thoughtful  book,  and  better  adapted  to  please  the  majority  of  readers 
than  any  previous  attempt  of  the  writer."  —  //.  T.  Tiickerman. 

"This  is  not  an  ordinary  book."  —  London  Athenamm. 


CRITICAL  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS, 

By  Thomas  Carlyle.     In  one  volume,  octavo,  with  Portrait 
Price,  in  muslin,  $1.75. 

This  vigorous  and  profound  writer  has  been  chiefly  known  to  the  public  ai 
large  from  the  caricatures  of  his  style  published  by  those  to  whom  drapery  and 
ornament  are  of  more  consequence  than  vital  force.  The  faults  of  Carlyle  ar« 
sufficiently  obvious:  they  lie  upon  the  very  surface ;  but  for  nicety  of  analysis, 
power,  and  closeness  of  lo<rir.  manliness  of  utterance,  and  genuine  enthusiasm 
for  what  he  deems  the  good  and  true,  no  critic  is  more  justly  entitled  to  admiration 


PHILLIPS,  SAMPSON,  A  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

THE  LATER  ESSAYS  OF  THOMAS  CARLYLE, 

(Latter  Day  Pamphlets.)     In  one  volume,   12mo.     Price,  in 
muslin,  60  cents. 


ESSAYS,  CRITICAL  AND  MISCELLANEOUS, 

By  Thomas  Babington  Macaulay,  author  of  a  History  of  Eng 
land.  In  one  volume,  octavo,  with  Portrait.  Price,  in  muslin, 
$2. 

AV  hoever  wishes  to  gain  the  most  extensive  acquaintance  with  English  history 
and  English  literature  in  the  briefest  space  of  time,  will  read  the  Essays  of  Mar 
caulay.  It  is  emphatically  the  book  to  direct  the  student  in  his  researches;  and 
at  the  same  time  the  brilliancy  of  the  author's  style,  his  learning  and  vast  fund 
of  information,  and  the  pertinency  of  his  illustrations,  render  his  writings  as 
fascinating  to  every  thinking  mind  as  the  most  splendid  work  of  fiction.  More 
scholars  and  critics  of  the  present  day  owe  their  first  impulse  to  self-culture  to 
Macaulay  than  to  any  other  writer. 

"  Undoubtedly  the  prince  of  the  English  essayists." 


THE  WORKS  OF  REV,  SYDNEY  SMITH, 

(Consisting  principally  of  articles  contribute:3  to  the  Edinburgn 

Keview.)     In  one  volume,  octavo,  with   Portrait.      Price,   in 

muslin,  $1.25. 

The  Edinburgh  Review,  so  long  known  as  the  leading  Quarterly  of  Great  Brilr 
ain,  perhaps  owed  its  existence  and  its  reputation  more  to  Sydney  Smith  than  to 
either  of  his  illustrious  compeers  —  Brougham,  Maoaulay,  and  Jeffrey.  The  good 
sense  and  simplicity  of  his  style,  no  less  than  his  vigorous  logic  and  bristling  wit, 
have  rendered  his  name  known  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken.  The 
interest  in  his  writings  will  outlive  the  occasions  which  called  them  forth,  and 
they  may  now  be  placed  among  the  British  classics. 


leffnjj* 

CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  THE  EDINBURGH  REVIEW, 

By  Francis  Lord  Jeffrey.     In  one  volume,  octavo,  with  Portrait. 
P:ice,  in  muslin,  $2. 


PHILLIPS,  SA^FPSON,  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

In  these  articles  of  Jeffrey,  the  curious  reader  may  see  a  history  of  English  lit- 
araturo  for  the  last  fifty  years.  Now  that  Scott,  Campbell,  Wordsworth,  Byron, 
and  a  few  others  are  immortal  beyond  cavil  or  peradventure.  with  what  interest 
do  we  look  for  the  first  impressions  which  their  works  made  upon  the  mind  of 
their  contemporary  and  reviewer!  Aside  from  his  learning,  vigor,  acuteness, 
and  general  impartiality,  Jeffrey  will  be  read  for  many  years  to  come  for  his  asso 
ciation  with  the  eminent  names  which  have  made  the  early  part  of  this  cen 
tury  so  illustrious. 


THE  RECREATIONS  OF  CHRISTOPHER  NORTH, 

(Contributed  to  Blackwood's  Magazine.)  By  John  Wilson.  In 
one  volume,  octavo,  with  Portrait  of  "  Christopher  in  his  Shoot 
ing  Jacket."  Price,  in  muslin,  $1.25. 

The  fame  of  Wilson,  under  his  chosen  pseudonyme,  Christopher  North,  is  uni 
versal.  The  wonderful  vigor,  the  wit,  satire,  fun,  poetry,  and  criticism,  all 
steeped  through  in  his  Tory  prejudices,  with  which  his  contributions  to  Black- 
wood  overflowed,  commanded  the  attention  of  all  parties,  and  have  left  a  deep  if 
not  a  permanent  impression  in  the  literature  of  the  age.  These  articles  arc  full 
of  the  author's  peculiar  traits.  Humor  and  pathos  succeed  each  other  like  clouds 
and  sunshine  in  an  April  day.  The  character  of  the  Scottish  peasantry  in  some 
of  the  Recreations,  is  depicted  with  as  much  power  as  in  the  author's  famous 
"  Lights  and  Shadows  of  Scottish  Life." 


THE   MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS   OF   THE   RIGHT  HON.   SIR 
JAMES  MACKINTOSH, 

In  one  volume,  octavo,  with  Portrait.     Price,  in  muslin,  $2. 

This  edition  contains  all  the  miscellanies  of  the  author,  reprinted  from  tho  Lon 
don  edition  of  his  works.  The  topics  are  various,  from  literature  to  politics.  Th« 
Revolution  of  1688.  it  is  well  known,  had  engaged  much  of  the  author's  attention, 
and  his  articles  upon  that  subject  are  among  the  most  important  and  valuable  in 
tho  language. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS, 

By  Archibald  Alison,  F.  R.  S.,  author  of  a  History  of  Europe 
during  the  French  Revolution.     In  one  volume,  octavo,  with 
Portrait.     Price,  in  muslin,  $1.25. 
TLe  distinguished  author  of  the  Ilistory  of  Europe,  hi  a  series  of  critical  art> 

I 


PHILLIPS,  SAMPSON.  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


ties,  mostly  t-oon  modern  historical,  subjects,  has  apparently  given  to  the  world 
many  of  the  studies  upoii  which  his  great  work  is  based.  These  Essays  will  U 
read  with  profit  by  every  student  of  European  history. 


THE  CRITICAL   AND   MISCELLANEOUS  WRITINGS   OP 
THOMAS  NOON  TALFOURD, 

Author  of  "  Ion,"  a  Tragedy,  &c.,  with  a  Portrait,  and 

THE  CRITICAL  AND   MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS  OF  JAMES 
STEPHEN, 

In  one  volume,  octavo.     Price,  in  muslin,  $1.25. 

The  author  of  "  Ion  "  may  surely  claim  a  place  among  the  classic  writers  of 
Britain.  The  essays  here  collected,  though  lacking  the  force  and  splendor  of 
itylethat  belongs  to  Macaulay,  are  among  the  most  elegant  and  attractive  in  the 
language.  They  refer  generally  to  lighter  literary  topics,  instead  of  the  severe 
subjects  with  which  Mackintosh,  Alison,  or  Carlyle  choose  to  grapple. 

Mr.  Stephen,  also,  has  long  been  known  as  among  the  ablest  of  the  great  mod 
ern  essayists. 

THE  MODERN  BRITISH  ESSAYISTS, 

Comprising  the  eight  volumes  octavo  preceding.     Price,  in  mus 
lin,  $12  ;  in  sheep,  $16  ;  hall'  calf,  or  hall'  morocco,  $18. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  MISCELLANIES, 

By  \V.  H.  Prescott.  With  a  finely  engraved  Portrait.  One 
volume,  8vo.  Price,  in  cloth,  $2  ;  in  sheep,  $2.50  ;  half  calf, 
or  half  antique,  $3  ;  full  calf,  or  antique,  $4. 

"  Mr.  Prescott  is  an  elegant  writer,  and  there  is  nothing  that  comes  from  his 
pen  that  does  not  strongly  bear  the  marks  of  originality.  The  present  volume 
contains  a  series  of  papers  on  different  subjects:  biography,  belles-lettres,  criti 
cism.  &c.,  in  which  Mr.  Prescott  has  put  forward  some  beautiful  ideas  on  tho 
Attributes  of  mind,  the  formation  of  character,  and  the  prt-srnt  condition  of  vari 
ous  sections  of  society.  It  will  be  read  with  avidity  by  the  scholar  and  genera* 
Inquirer."  —  A'eio  Orleans  HuUntin. 


PHILLIPS,   SAMPSON,   &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

*r^^s-*+***~*s>S*r*- 

mm. 

LECTURES  ON  THE  GENIUS  OF  AVASHINGTON  ALLSTON, 

By  Rev.  William  Ware.     Author  of  "  Zenobia,"  "  Aurelian," 
&c.,  &c.     In  one  volume,  12mo.     Price,  75  cents. 

"  The  illustrious  painter  has  found  a  splendid  exponent  of  his  genius  in  Mr. 
"Ware.  No  one  can  read  these  Lectures  without  being  impressed  with  the  congen 
iality  and  perfect  knowledge  of  the  art  upon  which,  in  connection  with  his  sub 
ject,  he  expatiates.  They  are  clear  as  crystal,  showing  in  the  transparency  of 
words  the  gemmed  and  brilliant  ideas.  The  pictures  of  the  great  artist  are  de 
scribed  in  language  whose  coloring  rivals  the  brightness  of  the  objects  themselves, 
setting  them  before  the  mind  of  the  reader  with  such  vividness  as  to  make  them 
almost  visible  to  sight.  *  *  *  *  The  whole  book  is  full  of  feeling,  and 
radiant  with  beauty."  —  Albany  Knickerbocker. 


PRACTICAL  AND  SCIENTIFIC. 


THE  MECHANIC'S  TEXT  BOOK, 

And  Engineer's  Practical  Guide.  Containing  a  concise  Treatise 
on  the  Nature  and  Application  of  Mechanical  Forces,  the  Action 
of  Gravity,  the  Elements  of  Machinery,  the  Strength,  Pressure, 
and  Resistance  of  Materials,  &c.,  &c.  Compiled  and  arranged 
by  Thomas  Kelt.  To  which  is  added,  Valuable  Hints  to  Mechan 
ics  on  various  Subjects,  by  John  Frost,  LL.  D.  In  one  volume, 
12mo.  Price,  $1. 

THE  ENGINEER'S  POCKET  GUIDE, 

By  Thomas   Kelt.     18mo.,   muslin.      Price,    75   cents;    with 

tucks,  $1. 

The  most  valuable  information  for  the  mechanic,  in  a  small  compass,  and  in 
clear  and  intelligible  language. 

MANUAL  OF  MAGNETISM, 

By  Daniel  Davis,  Jr.,  with  180  original  illustrations.  In  one 
volume,  12mo.  Price,  $1. 

Extracts  from  tlie  Preface. 

"The  present  work  is  principally  occupied  with  magnetism  in  its  connection 
with  electi'icity.  But  the  general  phenomena  of  both  these  sciences  are  described 
as  fully  as  the  thorough  comprehension  of  the  relations  existing  between  them 
appeared  to  require.  It  has  been  the  aim  to  give  the  book  a  practical  rather  than 
a  theoretical  character,  and  to  introduce  hypotheses  no  further  than  was  essential 
to  a  clear  explanation  of  the  phenomena  described." 

"In  the  preparation  of  this  (2d)  edition,  alterations  and  additions  have  been 
made  to  adapt  it  better  to  the  purposes  of  a  text  book  for  colleges  aud  high  schools, 
and  also  as  a  companion  to  the  apparatus." 


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